Unsuspected Heroes
by Rei Ronin
Summary: When Raven went undercover to expose a unknown vigilante, she found a web of metahumans living normal lives. But prophecies are coming, and as Raven is enveloped in a web of love and duty, selfishness and rectitude, she finds that one is her own. RaeOC RS
1. Things Begin

Unlikely Heroes

* * *

An alternate look on the Prophecies Universe

* * *

_If it was not for the fact that superheroes have powers and skills beyond the norm, if not for the fact that they save lives and property every time they go to work, if not for the fact that they are truly heroes…they would be laughingstock._

_Tights-wearing idealists, often with freakish powers. People who hide behind masks. People who try and balance the normal and fantastic. People who throw out quick quips while they battle. People taken from the frames of the most ridiculous action movies known to man._

_How is it that they are not laughed at by all? It's obvious that the villains they fight often find them amusing. It is merely the fact that they do so much good that lets them stand up as heroes, and rightfully so. Of course…some heroes are just too ridiculous to not provoke laughter, even if their skills are not in question…

* * *

_

The successful crooks laughed happily as they stopped in a dark alley. The heist had gone off perfectly, the Titans and cops distracted by the assault of some super-powered threat on the other side of town. That and the fear that so paralyzed people when any weapon was waved at them let a bunch of high school kids make off with quite a chunk of change. It was almost a pity, they thought, that their names would never find its way into history.

So they thought. But then, they also thought they had gotten away. A flap of a cape added itself to the ambient noise of the night, and a shadow fell across them, just before the alley lit up as if a magnesium flare went off in it. The next few seconds were a confused cacophony of thumps and yells that ended with the cape-wearer standing in a ring of the crooks. The only one still conscious looked up groggily at a person wearing a band uniform. "A bandie? What the…"

"All a matter of general effect, jocko." The uniformed vigilante's foot lashed out, robbing the consciousness of the last of the crooks.

* * *

"So…" said Raven dryly as the other Titans sat stunned by Robin's proclamation, outside of the happily humming Starfire, insulated by her incomplete understanding of Earth's culture. "You're saying that some band nerd jumped those fools and beat them into the ground before leaving them trussed up for the police?"

Robin nodded. "That's what the crooks claim."

Raven looked as if she was going to say something else when Beast Boy and Cyborg snapped out of their disbelieving funk. The ensuing tsunami of sound, mostly laughter, ruffled hair and clothing, as well as making Starfire float involuntarily back. The alien blinked and cocked her head to the side. "Friends…I do not understand. What is so funny about a 'band nerd'…" she looked to Raven for confirmation that she had gotten the term right, receiving a nod, "…beating up a group of crooks? Should we not be rejoicing that we have a new ally in our fight? If so, I shall prepare a feast of celebration!" She looked excited by the prospect.

Cyborg and BB started shaking their heads vigorously. Cy spoke first. "Naw Star, looks like this guy or gal don't want to be associated with us. Besides…a bandie?" He shook his head again. "I'm sorry, but there's no way I can see that!"

Robin had a serious look on his face as he interrupted, cutting BB off. "Absurd or not, we've got someone else in the city who isn't the cops taking down bad guys. We've got to know more about this. Even if they do go around in a marching band uniform…" He shook his head. "They're also covering their tracks. Little evidence was found at the scene, certainly not enough to give us any real clues."

"It sounds like they value their privacy," observed Raven dryly. "I assume this won't be entering our decision on this, however."

"It's a matter of either their safety or the safety of the city, perhaps both," affirmed Robin. "You're correct. We won't be considering their seeming wish for privacy…as far as finding out who they are."

"Uh…Robin?" asked BB. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying…well, let's put it this way. Anyone play an instrument?"

Raven gave a slight grimace, remembering a flute that lay neglected in her room. _I just know I'm going to regret this…

* * *

_

Hair dyed black and with a false layer of skin covering her Anja chakra stone, Raven looked at Jump City High with not a small bit of trepidation. Undercover work was not her forte, but Robin didn't play an instrument, and Cyborg…he had been a star FOOTBALL player when he was still fully flesh. He wouldn't exactly fit into the marching band. At least the faculty would be supporting her cover story. The excuse that Raven would be getting more of a traditional education that she had gained on Azarath incognito had secured their almost _eager_ cooperation…that assistant principle had been kind of scary.

They had even insisted on assigning her a guide for a few days, like she was some idiot who couldn't think for herself. She didn't believe for one second that that assistant principle would insist so heavily on that stipulation just because 'every transfer got one'. No, that woman was intentionally torturing her.

So here she was, wearing unfamiliar clothing, her hair not its true color nor in her accustomed style, and she was going to be 'taught' a great deal she already knew, guided around the building by some hormonal idiot.

"Are you Rachel Roth?" asked a voice from behind Raven.

'Rachel' turned to face a young blonde woman. "Yes," she answered relatively curtly.

"I'm Sarah Howell. I got assigned to the completely unnecessary job of guiding you around." She gave a bit of a grin. "I'd let you go around by yourself, but the old Horrible Hartwell would have an excuse to tongue-lash the both of us, and we don't want that, now do we?"

Raven's lips curled up on one side. "No. I guess we don't."

"You see the light!" exclaimed Sarah sarcastically. "Now, what's your first class?"

"AP Chemistry," replied Rachel, starting to like the blonde already.

Sarah cackled. "You picked an interesting way to start your day."

"What precisely am I missing here?"

"You'll see!" Raven glowered at the blonde. Apparently she took some pleasure in the arts of humorous torture, much like BB.

* * *

"So two atoms are walking down the street. One trips and fall, then starts looking for something on the ground. The second one asks the first 'What's wrong?' The first one says. 'I just lost an electron.' 'Are you sure?' 'Yes, I'm positive!'"

Raven just looked on in amazement at the bad science pun that had escaped from the teacher's throat, her look of amazement joined by a number of pained groans. It was obvious that the teacher in this class was a veritable font of bad puns.

"Oh come on, crew, it wasn't that bad, was it?"

"Felz Master Felz," replied one slender teenager with tousled brown hair and storm blue eyes along with a strong Japanese accent, even though his features were Caucasian, "That one is just too old to be very punny anymore."

More groans.

* * *

Sarah appeared to meet 'Rachel' outside the chem room's door with a big grin on her face. "So?"

Rachel pointed a pale finger at her face, at a loss for words. The accented voice that had replied to the teacher's question came from behind her. "Looks like someone doesn't appreciate the lowest form of humor, no?"

Sarah laughed. "Guess not, Selais. Rachel Roth, meet Ker Selais, master of the art of general oddity."

Raven's lavender eyes looked him up and down. He was attractive, that no one was denying, but he had a strange feeling around him. "Charmed."

He gave a roguish smile. "I've got a feeling the pleasure really is all mine, right?"

Raven rolled her eyes. "Mostly yours, anyway. You enjoy torturing people with bad puns?"

"Kinda. I find it's more interesting than the traditional thumbscrews and iron maiden route." He looked at the hall's flow "Yeesh, I've got to be going. _Ja na, _you two." He entered the flow of people in the hall as if he was dancing, and was quickly lost in the middle of the torrent.

"There goes one truly atypical guy," said Sarah.

Raven could only nod in assent.

* * *

By the beginning of last bell, Raven was both feeling extremely worn out and also a little intrigued by the idea that she would be here for a while. It was more than a bit different from the life she knew, but it wasn't entirely a bad thing. Some things, yes. Other things, no. "So, where is my last torture session of the day?" deadpanned 'Rachel' to Sarah.

The blonde didn't answer, doing her level best to suppress an ear-to-ear grin. Perhaps she should have stacked the playing field in her favor, because she wasn't doing a very good job. "You'll see…" she said in what seemed to Raven to be an even more ominous tone than that in which she had said that before chemistry.

Opening the door to the room, Raven took in the sight of the band getting their instruments ready. "Oh." Walking to the instrument locker that had been assigned to her, she pulled out her flute and started assembling it. This accomplished, she looked around for some clue as to what she should do.

"Welcome to the cult," said Sarah. "The anointing with goat blood and wild orgies will come later." Raven shuddered in spite of herself. She had a little too much history with cults to joke about them. Thankfully, no one seemed to notice.

Hoping to find something to take her mind off of the unpleasant thoughts stirred up by Sarah's joke, Raven looked about the room. She only recognized one face…the rather quirky Ker. It seemed that he was demonstrating a number of sword swings with his trumpet to another trumpet player that stood next to him. The person she was looking for was said to have used a color guard saber…

* * *

A/N: A little something I cooked up in a moment of boredom. Tell me what you think, and I just might continue it.


	2. Worries

Unsuspected Heroes

* * *

An alternate look at the Prophecies Universe

* * *

"Hoo, hoo!" exclaimed Sarah rather quietly. "Someone's looking at Mr. Atypical awfully hard." 

"Someone's got a crush on him?" asked Raven somewhat bewilderedly, looking to her flaxen-haired guide for a moment before letting her eyes return to the boy with the Japanese accent. Her eyes looked about, but caught no covert looks directed at him…though it did seem that his companion had drawn a few.

"No Rache, you don't have any competition," replied Sarah slyly, and not without a little delight. She chuckled as 'Rachel' whirled on her, flute grasped almost as a striking implement. There was no flaring in Raven's eyes, nor did any invisible or ebon force lash out, but the comment had certainly provoked a reaction. "I was just kidding, girl, calm down."

Raven realized that she had nearly slid out of character…and that to stay in consistent, believable character would mean pretending that she did indeed have a crush on the quirky boy. _Sweet Azar curse it!_ "Lay off of that, would you?"

"Sure, sure. Especially as we don't want to give **them** any blackmail material." Sarah nodded towards a group of flute players. Raven didn't even need her empathic sense to tell that they were, to put it nicely, conniving bitches. It was easy to read in their expressions, the way they held themselves.

"Ugh," commented Raven. Her section didn't look pleasant for the most part…there was maybe one girl in it who didn't seem to be a bitch, and she seemed shy and withdrawn. There was also a guy, but he seemed rather stoned. All in all, it didn't seem like a good day to be among the flutes.

Sarah nudged her with an elbow. "Hey, here comes the Walrus."

_Walrus?_ mouthed Raven as she turned to the newest visitor. Her eyes widened as she saw the band director, a man who did look remarkably like a human-walrus hybrid. It was the moustache that cinched the deal, really. "Hello, Mr. Fields."

"So you're our newest flutie, eh? Ms. Rachel Roth?" Raven nodded. "Well, Rachel, I'm sorry but you won't be marching with the flutes. We don't have any holes in the drill there." Raven breathed a mental sigh of relief. "Fact is, the only hole we have is in the trumpet section…one of our players skipped out on us about two weeks into the season." The Azarathian cursed her planet's namesake. "I know that the sound is radically different, but you're going to be marching with the horns. Ker and Faris will get you up to speed on your marching…and we won't push you too hard on your music."

_I'm a dead girl,_ thought Raven with mounting dread.

* * *

"Well trumpets, if you'd be so kind, welcome our newest addition," said Faris, the guy that Raven had observed Ker talking to about what looked like a sword routine. He was of Middle Eastern stock and wore his hair somewhat long like many of the members of the band. That being said, he did not wear it tousled like Ker and many others. His hair was immaculately straight, a jet black waterfall. It was fairly obvious that he took some pride in his appearance, and not undeservedly. 

"A flutie?" asked one of the trumpets.

"A cutie flutie, to use the Walrus's terms," commented Ker.

"And your terms?" asked a freshman who was often trying to cause Ker trouble.

"I'm gonna have to take the fifth on that one," replied Ker smoothly with an apologetic grin at Raven. "Anyway, Rachel here is going to be marching with us for the rest of the season, so get used to it." The trumpets greeted her. "So Rachel, I was told you've never marched before. Faris, you want to run the section through some drills while I try and get her close to the basic skills?"

"Sure," replied Faris, turning to the trumpets, who formed up into a line and started marching backwards at his command.

"So, shall we begin?" asked Ker of 'Rachel'.

"Alright," replied the undercover Titan. _How hard could it be?

* * *

_

"So," asked Cyborg, hiding under the one remaining holo-ring, wearing the features of a man who could be Raven's alter-ego's father, "How was your first day of school?"

Rachel winced as she entered the like-disguised T-car then moaned as she peeled off the fake skin that covered her chakra stone once the mirrored windows were closed. "Overly eventful. The kids there are weirder than you guys."

Cyborg got an interested look on his face. "Doesn't sound like high school's changed much. So…gonna tell me about some of these events?"

"Do I have to?"

"Yep."

Raven sighed as she pushed her hair back to where it normally was, then again as it fell back to her 'Rachel' hairstyle. "Well, I've got a chemistry teacher with a penchant for puns, four guys hit on me, and apparently 'Rachel' has a crush on a guy with a Japanese accent but white-guy features. Oh…and he's my section leader in band."

"Awwww! Does Raven have a boyfriend?"

Raven growled low in her throat. "No…she does not."

"Sounds like a bit of a girly-boy, playing the flute and all that. So, got any suspects?"

"He plays the trumpet, actually. I'm marching with the horns. But…he's the suspect. Seems like he practices swords."

Cyborg laughed the rest of the way to the Tower.

* * *

"_Ker-kun…there's something you ought to know,"_ said Sarah as they walked along a path in the woods that led to where the kid with the Japanese accent lived. 

"_Naniyo? Does Rachel-san have a crush on me or something? Bad taste on her part if she does,"_ replied the boy, in Japanese as well.

Sarah paused for a second, wondering if Ker had heard her comments or noticed Rachel's actions. He did have keen senses. But no…the way he was speaking was classic Ker. She had known him long enough to read that he wasn't really suspicious. _"No…it's not that,"_ she replied with an internal grimace for her lie to her friend. _"Just…there's a prophecy about you that just popped up on the Fields."_

Ker spun to her. _"Nanda? Sooth-kun…Are you certain?"_

She nodded. _"It directly references the Kaze Rei Bushi…just like that one during the Terra incident."_ She looked over to see the boy's eyes closed and a grimace on his face, as if he was in pain. _"Are you alright, Ker-kun?"_

"_Fine, fine."_ He waved her concern away as he opened his eyes, a concerned look of his own on his face as they walked. _"There's more, isn't there?"_

She nodded. _"Un…it also makes reference to the birth of a new bloodline of youkai. Onshu,"_ she quoted. _"One of these shall awaken the Ken no Chi." _

"_Chikushou,"_ swore Ker quietly as they reached a courtyard of a Japanese-style compound. _"I suppose I had better start training."_ He grabbed a bokutou which flashed up and caught a descending practice weapon. _"Gomen, Sooth-kun."_

* * *

Robin knocked on Raven's door. "Raven? Are you alright?" He was surprised to see the door open and the sorceress sitting slumped over a desk that seemed to have homework strewn all over it, her hand up as if she had just triggered the door with TK. 

She lifted her head and looked up at him, hair still black and in the new style. Her hand dropped to the desk. "I'll manage."

Robin walked in and sat down on her bed. "You sure? We can figure out some other way if you can't hack it."

She shook her head. "That might alert the person we're looking for if I leave so soon." She turned back to the homework. "I'll be fine…I just wish I had more time for meditation and I feel a bit worried about how 'Rachel' is turning out."

"Yeah, Cyborg told me that you were having to fake a crush on the target. Will…"

She cut him off. "I'll deal with it. But if you could get the others to help with my homework so I could get more meditation time?"

Robin nodded. "Sure, I'll figure out a way that it won't be obvious that you're not doing it." He stood and walked out the door. "Keep it up Raven, it'll get easier."

She closed the door with a flicker of ebon energy. "I hope so."

* * *

A/N: Here's a second chapter, and yes, I know it's been a long time, but school, original projects, a bit of RPing, and my recent purchasing of Guild Wars have dug heavily into my time. I hope you like it, even if I raise far more questions in this chapter than I answer...hey, it's still early in the story. Please review...feedback only helps me improve, whether what you think is good or bad. 


	3. Insight and Suspicions

Unsuspected Heroes

* * *

An alternate look at the Prophecies Universe

* * *

The once-again disguised Raven meditated in her room as she waited for Cyborg to knock on the door as her 'father'. Okay…to review. Her homework was done, and the day was planned, especially her surveillance of her suspect. 'Rachel's' fake crush was going to be actually quite useful, though she thought it best to gauge Ker's emotions regarding her persona. Chem she would shoot him a few looks, as would she in her Japanese class that he was a teacher's aid in. Lunch would provide a good opportunity to get insight from Sarah, and band would let her gather all the information she would need on his martial skill by observing his movements. Robin would also be helping out with that, he assured her, a good thing considering the somewhat short boy's expertise in the matter.

Letting herself drift to the ground and stand up, she checked the patch of fake skin covering her chakra stone and gathered her things. Just another day at school, right?

* * *

Beast Boy whistled jokingly as 'Rachel' walked into the common room. "Well hey babe, I haven't seen you around here before! Did you come here just to see little old me?"

Her chakra stone being hidden did nothing to dampen her powers, discovered Beast Boy, as she hit him directly in the face with a large block of uncooked tofu. "Oh shut up. Where's Cyborg?" Moving to the cabinet, she pulled out a mug and a teabag, then proceeded to the stove, where she put some water on to boil.

"Waste of good soy," grumbled BB as he wiped the semi-gelatinous remains of the tofu block off of his face. Raven's TK had confined the splatter pattern to his face alone, so there was a lot of it. "I don't know where Cy is, actually. Said he had a glitch with the holoring he was trying to bang out and that it wouldn't take to long. But the big lug likes his sleep, you know that."

Raven gave an absent-minded nod. The green shape-shifter went back to his meat and animal byproduct-less meal, of which she had precisely no desire to identify any portion of. Looking at the back of her teammate's head, she decided to get a little practice with her empathic powers, which she had been suppressing recently. Reaching out with them, she tried to sample BB's emotions.

She got two surprises. First, her powers had only grown stronger, not atrophied, and her effort to skim BB had yielded his entire emotional state. Second, emotionally speaking, her emerald comrade was alphabet soup…boiling alphabet soup. It was amazing that he was able to keep his joking personality in place even to the extent he had. What with his pranks often souring his teammates' opinions of him, instances that he truly regretted, his naïve exuberance creating crises, large points of shame, and his complicated feelings towards the still-crystallized Terra, and even more complexly, she realized guiltily, her, it seemed as if he carried an emotional burden second only to perhaps hers.

Maybe it was the one overarching feeling that permeated Garfield Logan's existence that held him together, though it was hardly a positive one. His overwhelming sense of inferiority to his friends dominated him even more completely than his affection…no, love…for Terra ever had. In fact, she realized, it was partially the fact that the gaiakineticist had treated him on such an equal level that had drawn his romantic attentions so completely to the blonde. Looking now, in shock that would not permit her to stop, she saw that of the girls that the changeling had lived with, she was the focus of the most of his lust. Amplified by her 'unattainability', yes, but Beast Boy often dreamt of her at night, of that she could be sure.

She gave a mental shudder and finally shook herself from her stunned inability to look away. As soon as she did, a tsunami of guilt washed over her for violating her good friend's most intimate privacy, and for the knowledge that she simply could not return his passions for her. Even beyond the problem of Trigon, she saw him as a little brother. Cherished and cared about yes, loved in a way, but never in the way that he would want if he came to terms with Terra and left her in the past.

Beast Boy turned in confusion to see the last evidence of a shadow-warp disappear behind him. "What'd you say?" asked Cyborg as he walked into the room.

"I don't really know," replied BB in bewilderment.

Behind them, the kettle started whistling.

* * *

Faris's eyes widened in more than a bit of surprise as the new flute walked out of an alleyway near the school. He was just about to pass it off as nothing when he remembered that the alley was a dead-end alley. How on earth had she gotten there at this time? He had been sitting out here for some time and he hadn't seen her, let alone anyone enter that little wasted strip of pavement placed there by poor urban planning. His eyes narrowed. This bore investigating. Perhaps a bit paranoid of him, but paranoia kept secrets. And he and his friends had secrets.

* * *

Raven gave a mental sigh as she cataloged the information she had come into through her furtive looks and listening to Ker during the first half of chem class. He was tanned, good-looking and she had confirmed her earlier impression of storm-blue eyes. His hair was brown, relatively straight, and seemed to be possessed of a soft quality. His musculature and general build was that of a dancer or a martial artist who used speed and agility. What she thought were calluses on his hands lent credence to her theory that he was indeed a practicing swordsman. But all this was not much more than review.

What was more interesting was what she thought she had discovered of his personality. Despite the strange sense of humor and ways of acting that he seemed to have adopted, he seemed a very different person underneath, a determined achiever and a patient teacher. He also seemed to be, though Raven suspected it was her mind slipping a bit too far into her role and engaging in wishful thinking, rather sensitive.

The last element of her surveillance plan, an emotional sampling, Raven did not want to fool around with, especially after what had happened with Beast Boy. She felt guilty enough delving into her friend's privacy like that…could she really justify doing to the same to a boy that she would be faking affection for? Besides, she would want to be relatively alone with him before she tried it, even if she did go through with it. There were simply far too many people around for her to feel comfortable even in the slightest using her empathy.

* * *

'Rachel's' lavender eyes followed Ker's form as it slipped into the tumult of the halls, but soon landed upon Sarah, who had one eyebrow raised. "Rachel, girl, you've got it bad."

Raven blushed, still uncomfortable with the idea of even faking romantic feelings towards someone. "I…I know," said 'Rachel' quietly, with an almost inaudible tone and sigh. As uncomfortable as she was with the idea of acting out another life, she was rather good at it.

"Well," said Sarah as they started walking towards their lockers, "I don't think I'll ask you why you haven't already asked him out…you seem to be a little more cautious than that, but I don't think it's as great of a risk as you might think."

"So…" asked Raven tentatively, fishing for information that her alter ego would consider vital, "He doesn't have a girlfriend?"

Sarah shook her head. "Nope, not that I know of." She looked over at her new friend. "And before you ask, I don't think anyone has designs on him. His oddities kinda put most people off."

They reached 'Rachel's' locker, and Raven put in her combo as she swapped out books for the next class. "What do you think he thinks of me?"

Sarah rocked her head back and forth, considering. "Well, Ker can be pretty difficult to read at times, but I'd say that he thinks that you're cute. He also seems to be friendly enough towards you when you consider that he's known you for a grand total of what? Maybe twenty-four hours? I'd say you've got a chance, though approach for him is going to be more than a little different than with most guys at this school."

"He's different from most guys at this school," replied 'Rachel'.

"You're right about that."

* * *

Ker pinched the bridge of his nose as he marked the assignments given to him to grade by the Japanese teacher. Seeing as _Nihongou_ was actually Ker's first language, it had made sense for him to aide the Japanese class, getting a little extra credit, instead of taking a study hall.

That being said, there were some times when he wished that he had taken the study hall. Aiding could be hit or miss when it came to time allotted for the aide to do their own work in class, and the truly abysmal Japanese that he heard out of too many mouths grated on his nerves. Bad enough that, but the class was also 'required' to speak in Japanese. It didn't help all that much, in his estimation.

And he would admit that _kanji_ could be very hard to pick up, but some of these assignments…it didn't bear going into.

Putting down the grading pen for a minute, he leaned back in his chair and rolled his head around on his shoulders, eliciting a number of popping noises from his neck. As he did so, he felt the feather-light sensation of someone's gaze upon him slide away and disappear. Someone was watching him, he knew that much, and they had been on and off in chemistry class as well. Running down the roster of kids from the classes, he found himself with only a few people who it could be. A few he rejected out of hand, considering his past relations with them. The feel of the look hadn't been intense or hateful…it had seemed more shy and wondering. Only one candidate was left, assuming he hadn't seriously misjudged someone…Rachel Roth.

Shock registering on his face for a second or two, he turned back to the papers, picking up the pen and starting to grade yet again. Again, he felt the almost-caress of someone's gaze. Rachel's? He couldn't say…yet, anyway. Sooth hadn't flat-out denied Rachel having interest in him…her answer left some leeway on that point, whatever she might have thought. As she knew him, he knew her.

Letting his peripheral vision drift into soft focus, he ran his hands through his hair…and caught a glimpse of a pair of lavender eyes looking at him.

_She couldn't…could she?

* * *

_

Faris caught a very distracted-looking Ker as he walked out the door to the Japanese classroom, and hustled him on their way towards lunch. Glancing back to make sure that there were no lavender eyes or black hair within earshot, he turned back to Ker and spoke in a low tone. "The new girl might be a meta."

That focused Ker. "Are you sure?" He silently cursed, as he always did, that Faris was not fluent in Japanese, which was useful for screening a conversation's content from most of the school, but he didn't really have a leg to stand on. After all, he wasn't fluent in Arabic, which the school didn't even have a class for.

"No…but I caught her appearing out of a dead-end alley that I had been near pretty early today. Either she's got a love for the space in between buildings and is an awfully early riser or…"

Ker nodded. "I see where you're going with this. Teleportation, right?" He got a quick nod from his friend. "You might be right, but I think in this case that it's just you being paranoid."

"Ker…we've got to be careful. A meta who's a gossip could expose quite a bit. Remember the exchange student?" He shuddered. It really had been creepy, with the ditz popping in on a number of private conversations. Her antics had resulted in quite a few break-ups, unfortunately, including ones that involved Ker, Sarah, and him. Most people thought it was just incredible timing and bad luck, but they knew better.

Ker nodded. "She doesn't quite strike me as the gossipy type," he remarked dryly. "Faris, we'll keep an eye out, okay? But I don't think it's anything this time. You've always been a bit wary of another exchange student debacle."

"Ker…be careful," said Faris, almost in a pleading tone.

"I gave my word, same as you, same as Sarah. We're all in this together…don't worry."

* * *

A/N: Well, that should do for now. School will continue in the next chapter as our players continue to dance about one another and their secrets. Please do review…I enjoy knowing what you think of my work. 


	4. Revelations

Unsuspected Heroes

* * *

An alternate look at the Prophecies Universe

* * *

Ker rubbed his temples as he looked across the table at his friend, who was currently involved with the process of devouring a rather large lunch…one even bigger than Ker's. It was a school mystery how the two of them could eat so much, yet remain so slim. In Faris's case, Ker's friends knew the answer, but they had been unable to say exactly why Ker had such an active metabolism as well. His wasn't nearly as abnormal as Faris's, though, leaving them to chalk it up to Ker's other well-known abnormality: he didn't get cold. Neither did he get hot, even in what most would consider fairly extreme temperatures for the region. Granted, Jump City had a mostly temperate climate, but he didn't even show the slightest shiver or sweat according to temperature that anyone had ever observed, even during blizzards or heat waves.

But it wasn't a thing that was discussed all that often. So, Selais had some metahuman blood in him. Big deal. It wasn't as if he had gotten any useful power out of it. Despite his training in martial arts by his father, he seemed to have no inclination to take Robin's path, and that was that. One didn't mess with him or his friends and didn't expect his clothing style to change the whole year long. That was about it.

Faris was another matter. He didn't show any metahuman tendencies, instead appearing to be just a normal, if near supernaturally handsome teenage boy with a large appetite. Ker knew better. Some medical experiments had been performed on the raven-haired boy, and had left him with a greater need for sustenance than normal. Not even Faris knew the nature of the experiments, but Sarah had once stumbled onto a prophecy that seemed awfully accurate to Faris.

The Roma boy didn't try to understand Sarah's explanations of why Faris was the subject of that prophecy, but it had told them that Faris had been experimented on. Typically, Faris had overreacted, considering himself a freak. Ker didn't see what was so wrong about being a test subject for what he suspected was a boosted immune system. After all, Faris had not once been sick in all the time they had known each other, not even to the extent of a cold. It would also explain how despite a rather promiscuous period in Faris's life, the boy had never gotten an STD, in defiance of the odds.

But Faris's abnormality was a large part of why he was so wary of Rachel. Ker didn't share Faris's paranoia of civilian metahumans, and even would go so far as to say that his friend was being a bit of a hypocrite. After all, he just wanted to live a normal life, so why should he investigate a possible meta? They could easily have the same wish. As far as Ker was concerned, the last teleporter they had dealt with was an isolated incident, as painful as some of the fallout was from that incident. A pang shot through his chest as he remembered what had been lost to that airhead's love of gossip and ease of acquiring it.

Still, all being said and done, he just had a monumental amount of trouble linking Rachel's personality and that French girl's. She sure as hell wasn't looking for GOSSIP.

* * *

Raven watched Ker from across the lunch room. The boy seemed like he wanted to start an argument with his friend, but was holding his tongue. The Azarathian picked at her salad, then looked over to Sarah. "Uh, Sarah?"

The blonde returned her new friend's look, pizza in hand. "Yeah?"

Raven looked back at Ker and Faris. "I was just wondering…you seem to be good friends with Ker…so why don't you sit with him at lunch?"

Sarah sighed, and put down her pizza. "Well, Rachel, outside of the fact that I don't want rumors going around that I'm his girlfriend, I just have a hard time around Faris." She grimaced. "It's a bit complicated…because Faris is my friend, too."

'Rachel' looked at Sarah with a look of bewilderment that was not at all feigned. She opened her mouth, as if to say something, the shut it. She definitely got the feeling that this was a subject she should stay far away from for quite a while…at least if she wanted to keep Sarah as a friend.

_Though that's not likely to be a factor in the long run,_ she thought bitterly. _I really don't like to think of the emotional pain I'm going to cause before this is over. And I was so mad at Terra…

* * *

_

"Hey, Ker."

The Japanese-speaking trumpet section leader looked up to see his partner in crime done with his lunch and staring at him seriously. "What, Faris?" he asked wearily, not wanting to go into another discussion of why a teleporting meta would be dangerous. "I've got lunch to eat." That was true. Ker hadn't taken a bite in the time that he had been brooding.

Faris's question was blunt. "You've got a crush on the new girl, don't you?"

Ker nearly spat his drink out all over Faris's face. _"NANDA?"_ he asked disbelievingly in his first tongue, never mind that Faris didn't even approach fluency in it. The raven-haired boy knew that word, which might be coequally translated as 'what the hell?'. "Fates above, man…where'd you get that notion?"

"My knowledge of your mannerisms," said Faris flatly. "Looks to me like you've got a crush on her and are wondering how she feels about you."

Ker blinked twice. "I thought I felt her staring at me while I was aiding Japanese, but I really hadn't considered my feelings on the matter. _Hontou_."

Faris nodded. "Right. Well, let me speed things up. How's she look to you?"

"Cute…"

"Check one. She seems like fun to be around, right?"

"Yeah…I guess so."

"Check two. What's your gut feeling? Or your read of her soul, whatever."

"I…ohhhhhh." Ker banged his head against the table. "I guess I do have a crush. _Chikushou_."

Faris gave a grin and pointed over Ker's shoulder. "Buck up, man. She's good at hiding her intentions from the mouths of most, but she's getting desperate in her limited time here, and wants to at least get in a month or so with you before she goes back home…wait…Jane doesn't take Japanese…you weren't talking about…" He spun around in his seat and stared wide-eyed at Raven's disguised self, turning back to Ker with a vehement oath. "_El khara dah?_ _Kus_, man, what are you thinking?" he whispered harshly. "That _ahbe _is a threat!"

Ker sighed and stood. _"Guess I'm just not thinking at all." _Walking over to the trash cans, he dumped what was still a mostly-untouched lunch and walked out of the cafeteria as a pair of violet eyes followed his movements.

* * *

"Look…do you need me to jam my foot in under yours to show you exactly how high off the ground your heels should be?" sighed Ker.

Rachel's face fell a bit. "Maybe…I thought this was high enough."

Ker stepped in front of her and shook his head as he watched the rest of the section go through maneuvers under Faris's commands. "Look, I'm probably going to sound like a bastard, but do your calves hurt to stand like that?"

Still trying to keep her balance on the balls of her feet, Raven shook her head slightly. "No…not quite."

Ker gave an interesting expression that was half smirk, half grimace. "Well, it should." He went up on the balls of his feet. "Here, take a look. It doesn't hurt me, because I've been doing this and training in another thing that stresses those muscles for a long time, but do you see how high up I am?" He took a few steps, the top of his head keeping perfectly level. "That's what you need to get to, eventually, anyway. The really important part though, is the smoothness of the motion. Bobbing up and down kills your sound and is really visible to the judges. It's not so bad sound-wise for you, because you play the flute, but the visibility is still really high, considering the hats and the metal bar that should be perpendicular to your body." He gave her a telling look.

Raven winced and raised the flute to level with the ground again. "Sorry…"

He shook his head with a smile. "Don't be. These are the normal first-timer mistakes. I'm just doing my best to break you of them as quickly as possible. First one builds the stance, then they learn the _kata_, _neh?_.

Raven's eyes widened a bit, which she then artificially inflated to stay in her 'Rachel' character. _So he does practice martial arts…_ "_Kata?_ You mean, like in martial arts?"

His cheeks went pink and he scratched the back of his head. "Yeah…I'm a practitioner."

Playing the attracted girl for all she was worth, Raven pressed forward with her questioning. "Really? What style?"

"Oh, my dad insisted that I learn _Touki no Fenikkusu-ryu,_" answered Ker with a dismissive shrug.

'Rachel' gave a small frown. "I've never heard of that style." She stored the name in her memory for a consult with Robin.

"It is a fairly obscure style. Now…RACHEL, TEN-HUT!" He rapped out the commands fast enough that Raven nearly didn't snap to attention in time. "Well, on with your brainwashing…nice trick to get me talking about martial arts to catch a break." He had an amused look on his face.

"I was actually interested," said Raven, somewhat sheepishly, and found to some extent that she meant it. _Azar curse it…_

The boy gave her a smile, and a fairly warm one, that had her wondering exactly where this conversation was going to go. Suddenly, it morphed into one of slightly devious amusement. "Good to hear, but there's no talking at attention, remember?"

Raven winced again.

* * *

"So how was school, pumpkin?" asked the disguised Cyborg with a badly-suppressed 'butter-wouldn't-melt-in-my-mouth' grin.

"Fine, dad…" said Raven, until she closed the door. "…you do realize I can telekinetically disassemble you if you push it too far, right?"

Cyborg smirked. "Oh, the Raven I know is far too soft to do something like that…now get that black stuff away from my wrist. I need that to drive. And if the Cyborg stops driving, we might hit something at high speed, and that's bad things all around."

"Since when did you start talking in the third person?" asked Raven in what was more of a 'Rachel'-like tone of wry amusement.

"The Cyborg has been experimenting with it on and off for most of the day. Personally, I think it's a bit of a hassle, but what about you?" Cyborg glanced at her both in jest and in surprise at the way her alter ego seemed to be infecting her.

"Well, it's annoying."

"The Cyborg might just have to keep it up, then."

Raven sighed.

* * *

"So," asked Robin, as he sat, staring at the screen of his personal computer, "You said you had some questions for me, Raven?" Robin's eyemask narrowed as he read about a number of recent threats from military labs. A flight-capable exoskeleton, a shipment of easily modifiable SAMs meant for shoulder firing…and a suit capable of storing a large arsenal of weapons in compressed space, or something like that.

"Just one, really," replied Raven, as she stepped into the room, her hero costume on and chakra stone showing, though she didn't bother to return her hair to normal. "Have you ever heard of a martial arts style named _Touki no Fenikkusu-ryu_?"

Robin froze. "Where did you hear that name, Raven?"

"Well, Ker…my suspect? He says that he's been trained in it…why?"

Robin blinked, though his eye mask could not transmit the action to Raven's eyes. "Raven…_Touki no Fenikkusu-ryu_ might just be the BEST martial art ever codified. It's a real 'master and apprentice only' kind of style. This Ker guy…" Robin looked down at his boots, then up at Raven. "…well, he's probably a better martial artist than me."

Raven had another unaccustomed, yet quickly becoming familiar, moment of dumbfoundedness. "What should I do? 'Rachel' has a crush on him…and I think he might be starting to return the attention." She looked off to the side, blood tingeing her cheeks pink.

Robin sighed. "Well, this probably going to be all the harder then…I want you to get to know him as best as you can…and see if he could be Titans material. I know that he might have no interest in working with us, and I still want you to find out who our band avenger is…but letting a person of that fighting ability just slip through our fingers would be almost criminal. I'm sorry, Raven…if he does want to join up, you two are going to have to sit down for a long talk."

Raven gave her best noncommittal shrug. "I'm going to have that talk no matter how this goes." The half-demon left the room, frown on her face. "Though now I wonder if I'll survive it…or even if I deserve to," she whispered.

* * *

A/N: Been a while, yes it has, but it is here anyway. Enjoy and review if you would.


	5. Afterschool and the Asking

Unsuspected Heroes

* * *

An alternate look at the Prophecies Universe

* * *

"_So my son,"_ said Ker's 'father', a Japanese man who was getting on in years, _"Your necklace has not left its place of rest for a full year today."_ The man scooped out another portion of rice into his bowl and continued to eat. _"Have you truly been so unlucky, or are you simply just unwilling to give up the past?"_

"_Well, papa," _said Ker slowly, _"I'm hoping that my luck might soon change. I think I may have found a…well, I'd hate to call her a prospect…but I'd say that I might have to try and relearn the steps of the dance."_

"_Think of it as kata, and you will go further. I hear that your lovely flaxen-haired friend also has news…another prophecy?"_

Ker nodded, gesturing with his chopsticks. _"Un…something about the awakening of some blood…and it references the Wind Soul Warrior, so I'm definitely in it…" _He shrugged. _"Why?"_ He paused for a few moments. _"Father?"_

The older man shook his head. _"Not now…you'll have to wait for the proper moment."_

Ker jabbed his chopsticks at his master and surrogate father, a fairly rude action. _"Dammit, dad, the last time I had to wait to find something out, it nearly cost Faris his life! What would have happened if I didn't figure out that hand switch…if I fumbled it because I had never practiced it?"_

"_You didn't,"_ pointed out the man whose family name was Kawada, mildly.

"_Not the point,"_ grumbled Ker, somewhat sullenly.

"_I will admit that I was wrong to not teach you that technique earlier…you performed it beautifully, but this is not the same sort of thing. Trust me. You have lessons to learn before I speak to you of this."_

Ker went back to eating with a sigh. _"Fine."_

"_Now…about this girl…"_

Ker got an outraged look on his face and dropped his chopsticks to the floor with a clatter. _"Dammit dad, I thought we had agreed that you would stay out of my love life! I know full well that I can't beat you, but I can sure as hell get a few hits in."_

"_Peace, my son,"_ said the old man with a hand held up to calm his son. _"I merely wished to say that if you do give this girl a chance, you may learn the lessons that you need. And I would like to meet her. You have very good taste in young women, and any girl that catches your eye is a person worthy to meet."_

Ker sighed again. _"Yes, father. If you'll excuse me, I have homework to do."_ Picking up his food and chopsticks, he rose from the floor and walked towards the small kitchen, then picked out an umbrella and headed down a forest path towards the house that he and his father slept in, rain splattering off the leaves of the forest and the oil-paper of the umbrella he held.

* * *

Raven gave a wince as her cat-like stretch had a good four vertebrate popping. No, wait…five. Being a student wasn't crime-fighting, but it certainly had its own stresses. With the two taken together…well, she was glad that there wasn't anything that had come up that necessitated all the Titans appearing. Bad enough trying to get enough time for a good meditation session. And the homework, which was tailored to her actual intelligence level, was difficult, by ilk of the fact that she was behind on the schooling that everyone else had at school.

"Need some help with that homework, Rae?"

Raven gave a tired look over her shoulder at the door she had forgotten to shut entirely. A hulking form of flesh and cybernetics stood there. "You're a little late," she informed him, wearily. "I just finished. Come in if you want."

Cyborg raised an eyebrow. "Wow, you must be tired if you're inviting me in here." Nevertheless, he stepped in and walked over to the desk the Azarathian was using.

"Mmmph…" replied Raven noncommittally, "What happened to the third-person speaking?"

"Do you really want me to start again?"

"No."

"Didn't think so. Whoa…is that Japanese? I don't think any of us will be able to help you with that."

"Well…it's actually probably the easiest subject for me, so that's all right." She paused for a second or two. "Vic, can I get some advice from you?"

"Sure, Rae." He sat down on her bed. "What do you need to talk about?"

"Well, it's about Ker. Robin thinks that he's too good of a martial artist to pass up at least trying to recruit, regardless if he's the one who took down those jocks or not. And…I'm faking a crush on him, and he's responding. I just…well, I feel like I'm pulling a Terra. I know that she saved us all in the end, I know that she's likely all back on the stable, good side. But there's no denying that she gave us a lot of pain. I'm pretty sure I'm doing the right thing, but I don't think that he deserves something like that."

"Hoo." Cyborg ran a hand over the fleshy side of his head. "That's tough. Really sounds like you're starting to care about this guy."

"Of course I do," grated out Raven. "I'm a believer in this team's goal…keeping people from harm, remember?"

"I know…I know. But it isn't often that I've seen you really considering the emotional side of what your actions might cause…which always struck me as a bit funny, considering that you're an empath."

"I'd been…well, I've been locking that power away. I really don't want to know those things in that way."

"And I'm thankful for that, Rae. I know I'd have been embarrassed for quite a while if you could look into my divided noggin. Not so much now, but that's life." At Raven's questioning look, he went on, with a somewhat uncomfortable look on his face. "I think you're very cute at times, Rae, and other times I think you're hot. Back when the team was formed, I would have never had told you that, you know. And don't think that I'm asking you out, or that it ever would have worked out. Just…you're attractive, you know?" Raven kept her mouth tightly shut, prompting Cyborg to sigh and go on. "But that was all physical…and that's not something that's me anymore, you know?" He looked down at his metallic hands and shook his head. "All that's left for me is emotional, and I never quite got that back when I was flesh. I coulda had it…but I missed it. And I've gotten that now…I just don't know if there's anyone out there that I feel for that way." He shook his head. "But I think that you really care about what happens to this guy. Be careful, Rae. I don't like the idea of my little sister falling for the wrong guy…or getting out of control."

"I'm not your little sister."

"Oh, yes you are, Rae," chuckled Cyborg as he got up and left the room. "Oh, yes you are."

Raven stared after the black teen's departure. _Well…that was a little disturbing…and didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know about my problem. _"Oh, Azar…what am I going to do?"

* * *

Raven had been tortured by doubts all week long, but in the end, there was nothing to do but go through with it…she had to ask Ker out. If she was going to get to know him well, and not blow her cover, she was going to have to bite the bullet sometime…and here they were, walking in from band. Now…if only she could get herself to force the words out of her mouth.

"Hey, Rachel?" came a surprisingly timid sounding Japanese voice.

Raven snapped out of her confidence-building pep talk with her aspects, most of who were far too supportive of the course of action to make her feel comfortable, and looked over to a Ker that looked more apprehensive than she honestly thought he could have. "Yes?" Was he…fidgeting?

"I was kinda wondering if you might want to go somewhere after school…" he trailed off, looking away, though she could have sworn she saw reddish skin through the strands of his brown hair.

Yeah…definitely fidgeting…WAIT A DAMN SECOND! "Ker…did you just ask me out?"

Imperceptible nod.

Joyful hug. "I'd love to!" Well, that had made her self pep talk unnecessary. Suddenly, she realized that she pressing her body up against the guy and cutting off his air with her hug. Apparently his body couldn't choose between blushing like a tomato or going blue with asphyxiation and had compromised with a nice deep purple. "Eeep!" Rachel jumped back, hoping that her date would be okay…and still her date after that. _Oh Azar,_ thought Raven, _I just pulled a Starfire._ "Are you alright?

Ker coughed for a couple of seconds before answering. "Fine…fine…" He looked up at her with a bit of a breathless smile on his face. "Just…warn me before you answer me so…empathically in the future."

* * *

A/N: Well, I'm back. No fighting yet...but that's coming in the very next chapter, I swear. I shall give you the battle scene that I know you all crave soon. In return, give me reviews that tell me what you think, and especially what you think can be done better. The more informative reviews I get, the better I can make the story. Ja na. 


	6. A Date, a Fight

Unsuspected Heroes

* * *

An alternate look at the Prophecies Universe

* * *

Preliminary A/N: Due to the fact that I'm sure a number of you are not familiar with the original Prophecies Universe fics, and due to a review I recently got, I thought I'd clear something up. This fic is set not long after the events of the Aftershock episodes…roughly a month afterwards. Contrary to the original two fics, one other episode has occurred by this point: Deception. This puts the time frame as roughly equivalent to X. But you shouldn't assume that any already aired episodes will hold the answers to any of these mysteries. "Prophecies Universe" refers to a separate version of the show that you see here, one that now primarily diverges from Deception. Incidentally, if you wish to join in on this and I judge your writing and story idea worthy, I might just let you write a fully-sanctioned side-story. E-mail me if interested.

A/N the second: Yes, this chapter has in it what I probably write best…combat, and martial arts based to boot. Enjoy.

* * *

"What? What?" Raven scowled as Cyborg's highly amused voice came through the earpiece of a T-comm disguised as a cell phone. "Did I just hear that little Raven doesn't have to be picked up because she has a DATE?"

She sighed. It was fortuitous that the 'phone' at least had a speaker and microphone that were like the normal variety. She was in the crowded halls right now, and Cyborg would have blown her cover had the thing worked like the standard variety. "Yes, dad. Your dear little Rachel has a date. I'm not so young…"

By which of course, she meant: _Yeah, I'm going on the date with him. This identity's not so new as to not act on a pair of insanely obvious crushes._

"I'm a bit nervous though, dad. What if I can't be everything he wants me to?"

Translation: _Azar curse it, why do I have to play the poor guy like this? I'm being the Terra to his Beast Boy._

"I know you're going to seriously entertain ideas of killing me for this…but who says it has to be fake?"

"Dear old daddy…and Miss Common Sense."

"What do ya mean? I think it'd be good for you to date this…oh…right. Sorry Rae. I forgot for a second there." Cyborg paused for a second. "I gotta say, though…you've gotten a lot better at expressing emotion without destructive consequences. Maybe it might be time to take a chance?"

"Maybe…and I suppose you could be right. I've only known him a week…" _Let him try and figure out how much of that was camouflage and how much was communication_, Raven thought, with not a little bit of amusement. She shut her locker and walked to the back of school, where Ker said that he'd meet her.

Faris's eyes narrowed as he watched his best friend and that new girl…the teleporter…get in Ker's car and drive off. _"Kus."_ He shook his head and snorted angrily as he stood up from the table he had been sitting on. "I can't believe he'd do something so stupid."

"I don't know if it's so stupid, but Ker's done some pretty boneheaded things before," reminded Sarah from behind him. "Why the hell do you hate Rachel so much?"

"She's a meta," grunted Faris, as if that explained it all. When he got no answer from her, he turned to her and elaborated. "A teleporter. I'm sure of it."

Sarah's mouth formed into an 'o', then into a frown. "Rachel…she's not like, well…_her._"

Faris's face twisted in anger. "Are you so sure?" he asked in a low, angry voice. "You can't really be sure. You're not a telepath. And now Ker's got a crush on her…who's to say that he won't tell her what he knows?"

Sarah's frown deepened. "You're not a telepath either. And she'd have to be one hell of an actor to pull off a performance like the one I've been seeing towards Ker. Besides, Ker gave his word. If nothing else, you should trust Ker to keep his word."

"I would, if he'd just keep his mind in his head and out of his pants!" snarled Faris. The Middle-Eastern blooded boy stalked off, leaving Sarah standing by the table, shaking her head and sighing.

"Personally, I think it's with his heart," she muttered before she made her way to her car.

* * *

A skinny girl arched her back like a cat and looked around the temporary base that she and her comrades had set up. Rather unfortunately for her boredom, it was one of the few views that she had seen in over a week. Ever since 'Stone' had turned out to be Cyborg and had destroyed the HIVE's advanced academy, she had been stuck here. In a safehouse. With roughly twenty-four other HIVE students, most of them just barely graduates of the basic academy.

And worse, they were within the confines of Jump City, with all the wonderful opportunities for mayhem and exhilarating fights…and Brother Blood had forbidden them from going out and drawing attention to their hideout. "Oh, that's it. I'm going shopping."

A short, bald-headed boy in a jumpsuit and with goggles over his eyes looked up from where he was welding something. "Do you have snot for brains? The Brother told us not to get this place found! You'll bring the Titans down on us, and the Brother doesn't want that."

She scoffed. "I'm actually going shopping, Gizmo. Hard as it is to believe, I'm actually going to pay for anything I might get."

"Yeah, well you've got a distinctive face," mentioned a tall black girl as her impatient pacing brought her over to the argument. "You'll get recognized, girl."

"Oh, not a chance, Bee" said the skinny girl, with a dismissive wave. "I'm going to go get into some normal clothing." She started to walk off.

"Wait…" said Bumblebee, putting her hand on the shorter girl's shoulder. "I think I could use some shopping time too. Girls' day out?"

Jinx smiled, and there was a bit of a sparkle in her cat-like eyes as she nodded.

* * *

"Huh…" mused Ker as he and Rachel stood in the entrance to the mall. "I guess neither of us gets out as much as is expected of us by high school society, _neh?_" It was fairly obvious that neither of the two of them entered the mall on any regular basis.

Raven turned her head to look at Ker quizzically. "Don't get out as much as expected? Don't you mean as much as we should?"

He quirked a smile. "Let us say that I'm not convinced that society has everything right. Some things, for true it does…but there are many things that it lacks in. But philosophy is not my role at this moment, according to the strictures of society. Instead, I suppose I am to follow the lovely young lady at my side around and provide transport for any purchased items."

Raven smiled. "Well, I'm not really in agreement with society with all of those accepted roles, so I've got a different proposition. How about you provide an interesting companion while we walk through this den of consumer culture and we both enjoy watching these crazy fools?"

Ker chuckled. "Lord, what fools these humans be," he quoted, then grinned. "It's a tall order, but I suppose I could accommodate you on those grounds, Rachel."

"Oh good." The two of them walked off into the mall, wondering where this might lead. They weren't the only ones.

* * *

"What do you think, Beth?" asked Jinx as she held up a slinky little number in front of her slender frame. "Is it me?"

Bumble Bee nodded. "Yeah, Jean, I could see you wearing that to the next dance. I just don't know who you'd be taking. Most of the boys in our classes are pretty poor catches." She sighed, then looked out the shop's window. "I want to know why we don't get guys like that," she indicated Ker, who was talking with Raven as they sat on a bench, "in our classes. He's pretty hot. Shame that he goes in for pale skin…you might be able to steal him away from his little girl there, though, Jean." Bee chuckled, then looked over at Jinx. "Jean?"

Jinx was staring straight at 'Rachel'. "No…no way. It couldn't be. There's no way it could be her." Tearing her eyes away from the two teens on the bench, she turned her eyes to Bee. "If I didn't know better, I'd say that girl was Raven of the Titans."

The black girl returned her eyes to the couple, narrowing as she noted the similarities. "Overly pale skin, right height and build, same bone structure in the face…you may be right, Jean…Jean?"

Jinx was already making her way out of the shop. This she HAD to confirm for herself. Unfortunately, she didn't realize that she still held the dress she was thinking about purchasing.

Several things happened in very rapid succession. First, Ker and Raven stood up to go walking a bit more. Second, Jinx exited the store. This caused the ink tag to burst, staining the slinky dress indelibly with a migraine-inducing hue of green. Jinx, startled, reflexively snapped off a quick burst of hex that hit the ground under 'Rachel's' feet, that caused Raven to slip, only to be quickly caught by Ker, inducing a pair of blushes.

It was about then that the shopkeeper connected the pink flashes with the HIVE mercenary and screamed. "It's Jinx! Someone call the Titans!"

The pink-haired girl snarled. "Dammit, I'm blown! Bee, help me out here!" She snapped her gaze over to the tall black girl, who winced. Had the shorter girl not done that, she might've been able to get out of this as an 'innocent bystander'.

No helping it now, realized Bumble Bee, popping her folded wings through specially designed slits in her clothing, and doing the same with her zappers. "Talk about bad luck," she muttered, under her breath.

Meanwhile, Raven had nearly risen on instinct to engage the two HIVE students, but Ker's putting her on her feet and adopting a stance had surprised her. "Ker…what are you doing?"

"Run," he commanded. "I'll do my best to hold them till the professionals get here."

"But they're…" started Raven, seriously thinking about revealing her real identity so this powerless guy didn't get himself killed.

"I know…I guess you could say that I've had some practice at this." Ker got onto the balls of his feet and darted off, leaving Raven to wonder exactly what he meant. She snapped out of it quickly, though, and Rachel ran, her fingers fumbling for her 'cell phone'.

* * *

With her cover blown, Jinx didn't think anything of throwing a big wave of pink hex at the stupidly charging teen. She felt a little pang of disappointment in it…it wasn't often that a non-hero would go to such lengths as to engage her in combat, but she simply didn't have the time to toy with him if she was going to get out of there without the Titans coming down on her. Hence the hex wave which would likely end the guy up in the hospital.

She hadn't quite expected him to jump over it and snap a kick into her skull. It was quite a good one too, and had her flying into and through the storefront window. Bumble Bee was more than a little surprised as well, but she had the presence of mind to snap her zappers up and start firing, six packets of electricity flying in at the fool who did admittedly know how to kick.

But Ker wasn't a fool, and kicks weren't even the primary strike of the style that he trained in. A turning step to the side followed by an angled forward dive across the line of fire had all of the shots burning into the mall's walls, and Ker right up next to Bee, on the side that she hadn't expected, if down on his knees.

The black mercenary gritted her teeth in confusion and anger as she swung her right zapper down towards the tanned teen's face. Where had this guy come from, and how the hell did he get that good? It turned out to be a good thing that she had gritted her teeth. It kept her from biting her tongue off as pain lanced through her body and a sickening 'crack' filled the air.

He wasn't on his knees anymore, and his wrists were at her wrist and elbow on opposite sides of the forearm that had been threatening him with a zapper. Of course, that forearm wasn't bent the right way anymore. Ker had shattered her elbow joint by applying sharp, immediate pressure in the wrong direction, and now, as she watched in horror, his hands began what she knew to be a disarming routine.

Doing her best to swallow her scream, she fired the other zapper point-blank into this martial artist, sending him flying, and smoking a bit. Her stolen weapon clattered to the floor out of reach of Ker, but that didn't matter. He hadn't planned on using it, and she couldn't anymore. Grunting, with his hair still jumping from the electric weapon's charge, he pushed himself to his feet, only to be hit in the chest with another wave of hex, this one a much more measured and serious strike, rather than just an outpouring of power.

Breath blasted from his lungs, he smashed back against the ground and went skidding into a storefront.

Raven, still as 'Rachel', having just recently arrived on the scene, gasped in horror. _I should have taken them and damn what that would have meant!_ She hadn't quite noticed the arm that hung at Bumble Bee's side, useless.

* * *

AN the final: Well, there you go. Hope you like, and there's more action to come. Review, huh? I like reviews, and they can inspire me to greater speed.


	7. A Blade Unleashed

Unsuspected Heroes

* * *

An alternate look at the Prophecies Universe

* * *

Prelim AN: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls…we now have SWORDS. If you don't get what I mean now, you will soon.

* * *

Jinx bared her teeth at Ker's curled-up form, the beginnings of a livid bruise standing out on her temple, contrasting nicely with her pale skin. "Cheap shot, you idiot. HAAA!"

Another burst of hex energy streaked out, hitting the ground under Ker. A pipe burst, and the ensuing fountain sent him straight through the plate glass of the store's window. Raven's eyes started glowing dully and her nails started to dig into her palms. If nothing changed soon, Rage was going to have a field day.

Ker groaned and swiped blood out of his eyes. This wasn't going so well, despite his first two attacks, which were both quite successful. But now the two female mercenaries knew that he was a threat, and were ready for him with ranged attacks. Wincing with pain, he sat up against a counter, then suddenly realized what kind of a store he had just flown into. His pained expression turned into a wolfish smile and he started picking out what he would need.

* * *

"_That idiot!"_ growled Faris in Arabic as he watched Ker get knocked through the shop's window. _"What the hell is that fool doing, trying to take on a couple of metahumans? Bare hands too, no less, and against people with training. Sure…try and impress your new playtoy. Dammit Ker…I can't help you…not with so many people watching…especially her."

* * *

_

Bumble Bee groaned as she examined her wound. It was going to be a long time healing, even with the best medical technology. "Jinx, let's get out of here. We're going to get caught if we push our luck any further."

"To hell with that," sneered Jinx. "That bastard kicked me in the head. I'm not leaving till I get some payback." The probability-changer started walking across the mall's floor.

Bumble Bee let out an exasperated sigh. "You hit him full on with a hex blast, then sent him through a plate-glass window. I think you've gotten revenge enough. Besides, if there's anyone here who should want revenge, it's ME! He shattered my elbow!"

"Then I'll get your revenge too. Beside, he owes me interest." Jinx turned back to her black compatriot. "Don't worry so much. This won't take…**_AUGH!_**"

Her scream was accompanied by a loud meaty 'THOCK' that partially covered a sickening crack. Jinx fell to her knees, clutching at the sai that was now embedded in her shoulder blade. Blood quickly coated her hand and soaked her top. In shock, she looked back at the doorway to the store she had blasted Ker into. Sure enough, Ker was standing there, and preparing to throw another sai.

Bumble Bee watched in horror as the second sai flew from Ker's hand, arrowing in on Jinx's hunched form. Time seemed to slow as Jinx's good arm whipped out and fired a hex blast that sent all of the blood on her hand flying in a crimson mist, then sped up as the pink blast hammered into the sai, sending it flying high and wide.

Now Jinx was worried. This boy was not unlike Robin, outside of the fact that this guy wasn't afraid to inflict serious, crippling harm. She really wouldn't put killing past him, considering what he had already done. The sorceress did her best to struggle to her feet and collect herself, but she simply didn't have the time.

Jinx yelped as she barely stepped out of the arc of a cut that would have split her skull, providing the blade Ker was swinging was fine enough. "You lunatic!" she screamed in disbelief at the martial artist in front of her, whose blade was down low. "Go away!" She tried to bring her one good arm up for a hex blast at Ker's unguarded torso.

She wasn't fast enough, the teen's katana coming up in a rising thrust that skewered her hand, the blade's bloody tip coming to a rest not six inches from her face as the sword's guard smacked into her palm. Ker's war cry and Jinx's cry of agony mixed as the two of them tried to force the sword either to Jinx's face or away from her face.

After a few seconds, it was clear that Jinx was not going to win this clash, as the blade's razor edge tasted the flesh of her cheek, a red tear of blood welling up from the puncture. It was soon joined by her eyes' own tears, weeping that the end would come so soon.

Luckily for her, Bumble Bee chose that moment to intervene, firing her zapper over Jinx's shoulder at Ker's face. Jinx screeched in agony as a boot blasted into her stomach and Ker ripped the sword up and out of her hand and into a guard that would have adroitly blocked the electric blast…had metal not been such a good conductor.

The blast staggered him, sending him stumbling a few steps backwards, and letting Jinx beat a whimpering retreat back to the broken-armed Bumble Bee. The combatants stared at each other across the broken tile of the mall floor, Ker holding the katana to his side and back as Bumble Bee leveled her zapper at him while doing her best to support the savaged Jinx. "You ready to leave NOW?" whispered the black girl harshly to the other mercenary, getting a nod in reply. "Good. We're out of here!"

Bee beat her wings and rose slowly, not bothering to provoke more violent action from the remarkably deadly teen. It would be a slow getaway…but they could manage it.

Or at least they would have if the Titans hadn't chosen that moment to arrive. A whirling birdarang found Bee flinching and going small…dropping Jinx to the floor of the mall's upper level. Recognizing that there was no way to rescue Jinx, Bee flew off, abandoning the pink-haired mercenary to the law.

On the mall's ground floor, Ker flicked the blood off the sword, sheathed it…then collapsed.

* * *

Raven, in full hero costume, stood over Ker's prone form, doing her best to heal the worst of his wounds, mostly caused by shards of glass that had dug into him during his flight through the Asian store's window. It hadn't been easy. Ker had been severely lacerated, to an extent she was having trouble equating his performance in that fight to the injuries she had seen when she first flipped him over.

But thankfully, it hadn't been beyond her healing powers to get them to a state in which bandages were really unnecessary, but still recommended. Now she had the teenager flipped over and was healing the slight internal damage he had taken from the hex to the chest. She hurt, and badly. Still, she couldn't just leave him like that, especially after what he had done for the Titans…and more specifically, her.

"R…Rachel?" Ker's eyes fluttered open, but Raven could tell that they were awfully bleary.

"No," she said in a flat voice, the one that most people associated with her. "Lie still. I'm not done healing you."

"Oh…Raven, right? Sorry…sight's a bit fuzzy and you kind of look like…"

"I don't really care," snapped Raven, quickly, not wanting to go down that line of conversation.

Ker's eyes closed. "Sorry…guess I was babbling."

"You were," affirmed Raven, running a pair of blue aura encased hands over his chest. "But you just took a lot of damage. I suppose it's only to be expected."

Ker's eyes peered out from under half-raised lids. "Mmmph…I've had worse. You don't really need to bother with my chest…it's alright."

Raven didn't stop, even though she wasn't feeling any damage there. "Internal damage is not always apparent. You should just stay quiet and let me finish tending to your wounds."

He rolled his eyes. "Have it your way. Um, Miss Raven…could I ask you something?"

"You just did. But go on."

Ker's ensuing wince had nothing to do with physical damage. "I realize you probably have no clue about this…but did the girl that was with me make it out okay? Her name is Rachel…Rachel Roth."

Raven nodded, feeling a stab of pain in her chest from Ker's internal damage at last. "Yes. She should be just fine. And I'm sure she'll be glad to hear that you are okay as well." Raven removed her hands from his chest. "You can sit up now."

Ker did so. "That's…well, that's good to hear. What about Jinx? I didn't end up doing lethal damage to her, did I?"

Raven's expression tightened. "No…but she's going to need a lot of time with the nanobots before she's intact again. You really did some serious damage to her. Why?"

He was nodding. "I knew it was serious…as to why, she engaged me in combat. When sparring, I hold back…but when fighting, there isn't anything but defeating the enemy as quickly and efficiently as possible. Tending to one's opponent comes afterwards. That being said, I would have preferred to use a practice weapon, but I knew that I needed as much of an advantage as I could get, going up against two metas."

Raven blinked. "You aren't a metahuman?"

He shook his head. "I didn't say that. I just don't have a power with any use. I'm not affected by heat or cold. All I've got to work with is some pretty incomplete training."

Raven frowned. "Incomplete or not, it served well enough to take on two HIVE operatives. I must admit, I'm surprised you're not in the vigilante business."

He gave a pained laugh. "Oh no…hardly that. Your job is for heroes…not _bushi_. There isn't much call for my kind in this day and age." With a wince, he stood up and walked out of the tent that had been set up around them. "Thanks for the healing."

Raven sat down on the bed that he had vacated. "_Bushi_?" she asked of no one. "What in Azar's name does that mean?"

* * *

AN: Well, there we are. And, I know this is a shameless plug, but if you like my writing and ever enjoyed the movie Top Gun or its ilk, you might want to check out my latest fic: On The Job Training, in the Ace Combat section.


	8. Decision

Unsuspected Heroes

* * *

An alternate look at the Prophecies Universe

* * *

"_You were in a fight,"_ stated Ker's _sensei_ bluntly as the teen walked into the compound in the hills.

"_Hai."_ Ker sat down heavily and let out a great sigh.

"_Not a good date, then?"_

Ker gave a bitter laugh. _"Oh, it was an excellent time until I got it into my head to fight a holding action against two metahumans. A decently successful one, but the deck was a little stacked."_

Ker's foster father raised his eyebrow. _"Who were they, and how did things play out?"_

Ker drew his legs up under himself and collected his thoughts for a couple of seconds. _"One was Jinx, and I think the other one was named Bumble Bee. I sent Rachel to run to safety and charged at the HIVE operatives. Jinx fired a huge hex blast at me, which I jumped and turned into a flying kick. That sent her through a store window. The other girl started firing at me with what I think were a couple of shock pistols and I entered a cross-body roll to evade those, coming up in the perfect position for an elbow shatter. I started to try and disarm her, but she got a point-blank shot into my torso which sent me staggering. Jinx then reentered the fight with a hex wave that put me on the ground, then another which sent me into a shop which sold weapons of mostly display-quality, but with a few that could be used in combat in a pinch. A thrown sai ruined Jinx's shoulder, then she took another one out of the air. It gave me the chance to close and use the katana though. She evaded the first cut, but I stopped her from hexing me by putting a rising stab through her palm. We clinched for a bit, then I kicked her off the blade to free it up for a guard which ended up getting me zapped, anyway. They started to run for it but the Titans showed up. Jinx is in custody, but in intense medical care, at the Titans' Tower, I think. The other got away."_ He fell silent.

Ker's sensei sighed. _"You do realize how hard it will be to keep the Titans from trying to recruit you, neh?"_ He shook his head. _"I know how hard it would be for you to try and give up the life you have now, and I know full well that you don't think you're the right type for so-called hero work. Didn't the thought of running and only fighting if you and Rachel were attacked cross your mind?"_

"_Ile. In my defense, it seemed that we had been attacked."_ Ker looked down at his feet, hands constricting tightly around them. _"It looks like I just followed in Pandora's footsteps."_

A small smile made its way across the old man's face. _"Then do not forget what is left in the box, just waiting to be plucked out."_

The inklings of a smile played at Ker's lips. _"Kitai."_ His positive inklings were short lived, however. _"I think I should have chosen a different legend. Heroes would not want someone who deals such grievous damage working with them."_

Ker's foster father bounced his head from side-to-side, as if considering something. _"There are ways around that…but I do not think that acceptance from the Titans is all that gives you doubts. Kitsu ka?"_

Ker's head, which had come up somewhat during his foster father's suggestion that there might be a solution to his art's deadliness, fell again. _"Un…I can't imagine that Rachel would want anything to do with me after perhaps seeing, or even just hearing about what I did to Jinx. It was the only way, but still, it was not current society's way."_

"_Current society, sadly, has little room for warriors, it is true,"_ sighed the old man. _"But I think that if Rachel attracted you for the reason that I think she did, she might just surprise you."_

"_Deshou…I just wish that I could have found out how I truly felt about her."_

Ker's father smiled, then leaned forward and pulled the pendant out from under Ker's shirt. His finger tapped it twice and he smiled warmly. _"I know. My son, this pendant belongs to her."_ He stood. _"You have much to think on. Come to me when you have decided what it is you wish to do with your life."_

Ker didn't respond with words to his father, merely taking the pendant in hand and running his thumb over the grooves in the teardrop-shaped gold pendant that formed a kanji with a great deal of meaning to him.

* * *

"Ker?" Sarah knocked on the door to the suburban house that Ker and his father ostensibly lived at. There was no answer and the lights were out. Knowing full well where Ker really spent most of his time, she hopped the fence and entered the path that lead into the woods. The only person besides Ker, his father, and Faris to even walk this path, she felt a bit of trepidation at her first solo walk up it. She had been privileged to enter this most private place in Ker's existence…but now it felt that she was violating a trust.

He wasn't training with a sword in the courtyard, or running through a barehands form. He wasn't even sweeping the flagstones. Sarah didn't call out as she walked into the unusually quiet court yard, casting her gaze about as she tried to find either her friend or his foster father. As generally was the case, Ker's father found her first. He had a way of seeming to appear like that.

"Hello, Sarah," he greeted. His English-speaking voice was very heavily accented, but kindly. He approved of Ker's friends, though Sarah wasn't quite sure why he spoke in English with her. She was just as fluent in Japanese as any native speaker.

"Hello sir…where is Ker? We're getting worried about him."

"Oh…where is Faris?"

"I kinda meant Rachel and me, sir. Ker has told you about her, right?" She would be rather surprised if the martial artist hadn't.

He nodded. "Yes…he has. Ker got in a fight, I trust you know?"

A somewhat sardonic smile played across her lips. "Yes…Rachel told me about it, as did the news. They didn't give his name, but it wasn't too hard to identify the style when I saw the video, even if it was that bad of quality. And since I know full well that wasn't going to be Faris…"

He smiled back a bit. "Yes…well, you do know my son well." He pointed to the room that Ker was still sitting in. "He is making a very important pair of choices…ones that are inextricably entwined."

Her mouth formed a silent O. "I suppose that's why you have Kanesada and Muramasa on you? You're giving them to him? But…couldn't he decide not to go with a path that would require them?"

He gave an enigmatic smile. "I too, know my son well."

* * *

"_You've decided?"_ asked Sarah of Ker a few hours later.

He nodded, his face set in determination. _"Hai. I should have done this a long time ago."_

She frowned. _"Faris is going to be very unhappy."_

"_He already is. I'll still keep the secret."_

"_I know…Rachel is going to be unhappy as well."_

"_You aren't making this easy, you know. It's better in the long run…and I knew I was going to need to make sacrifices."_

"_Fine…are you going to explain to her?"_

He nodded, then dipped a hand into his pocket. _"And give her this."_ The pendant hung shining at the end of the chain, the jet-black lines of the kanji for _ai_ clearly apparent.

* * *

A/N: I'm surprised at the lack of response to the last chapter. I was under the impression that such a well, I suppose 'messy' would be a good word, fight, I'd get more of a reaction, outraged or admiring. Ah well. Anyway, I realize that Raven doesn't even appear in this chapter, but it's primarily transition from the last to the next one, so, oh well. Please review. They make me feel happy, and as always, let me make the story better. 


	9. Duty

Unsuspected Heroes

* * *

An alternate look at the Prophecies Universe

* * *

**Earlier**

Raven growled subconsciously as she flipped the pages of her Japanese textbook. "Oh come on! It can't be that hard to find!" Snorting in exasperation, she flipped to the back of the book and looked for page numbers that it would be on. Finally finding them, she opened to a page with a picture of a samurai in full armor upon it. He finger trailed over the page until she found what she was looking for. _"Bushi…_warrior."

She sat back to ponder what Ker's words had meant. _How are heroes and warriors different? Why doesn't he think that he can do a job like mine?_ She would sit there for quite some time.

* * *

**Present Time**

"Damn girl, calm down!" said Cyborg as the Rachel-disguised Raven bounced from foot to foot as she waited for Cyborg to be ready. "Shouldn't you meditate or something?"

"We don't have _time_ for that," said Raven pointedly. "Sarah said he was finally coming back to school today, and she kinda seemed…strange."

Cyborg raised his remaining eyebrow. "I could have sworn that we always had time to stave off emotionally charged telepathic destruction."

"Yes, yes…and the calming effect would be at school. Let's go already." She got in the car and started drumming her fingers on the door.

Her response stunned Cyborg for a few seconds, who got in and looked over at her slowly. "Raven…did you just say what I think you said?"

"Your audio sensors are good. And you don't seem to be infected by any viruses. Can we go?"

Cyborg started the car and started driving. "I know I said that it seemed like you were starting to care about this guy, but shouldn't you be a bit more careful? I mean…emotions are a dangerous thing even without powers attached to them."

She sighed. "I know, I know. It's just…well, soothing, I guess. His presence, I mean."

"Huh. Well, I guess it could be that going along with some of your emotions might be better for you in the long run."

"I can see the logic behind your point…as with any psychological case, fighting against something always creates more turmoil than going along with it, but attraction, like, lust…they're pretty fickle. And eventually, I'd have to come clean, right? That's where the idea breaks down."

"So you like him? What about love? You didn't mention that one."

"Sweet Azar, I hope I don't love the guy. There isn't an emotion more dangerous than love, and that includes rage. I mean, the chemical make-up of it isn't so far removed from obsessive-compulsive disorder." Raven looked down at her lap. "And even if I don't, him loving me wouldn't be very high on my list of things I want to happen. I'd be doing to him what Terra did to Beast Boy."

Cyborg stopped the car a short way away from the school. "Girl, I can't believe I'm actually going to suggest this, but have you considered quitting? Just become a normal teenager? It's not like there aren't others there…we know that, and we've known it for a long time. We'd miss you…but it might be better for you."

She shook her head. "Atlas can't shrug, Vic. Once you take up the responsibility, you can't put it down. Besides, the truth would be that Rachel was just a fake identity, no matter what." The melancholy half-demon stepped out into the cold.

The teen who had been mutilated so long ago sighed and looked after her, closing the door behind her. "Is she really?"

* * *

Raven shivered. Cold winds were blowing in off of the bay, and her slight frame didn't provide her with much of a capacity to keep heat in her body. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary for a girl of her build, but she simply hadn't dressed warmly enough today. Tucking her arms in close, she blew out a breath that condensed in front of her and started making her way towards the school's door.

It felt nice to have a familiar-smelling jacket draped around her shoulders, even if it's owner was wrapping her in a web of emotion that seemed apt to undo her. "Hello Ker," she said somewhat shyly. The male, normally so warm towards her, seemed at a remove, in his own thoughts, much as she was. She didn't press it, instead just walking into the school with him, worry upon worry flitting through her mind.

* * *

It came to a head at lunch. Neither was eating, both lost in thought as they glanced at the other, sitting right next to them. Then Ker's hand slid across the table to in front of Raven and withdrew, leaving the teardrop-shaped golden pendant with the jet-black kanji inscribed in it. Raven couldn't readily translate it, and found her hand involuntarily rising to rest covering her heart. _Oh damn,_ she thought as a band seemed to constrict around that organ at her core. "Ker?"

Her voice was barely even a whisper, but he heard it just fine. "That's belonged to you for some time…I'm not sure how long, but I'm sorry I didn't give it to you sooner."

Her fingers traced over it. "You made this, didn't you?" He nodded and she could feel very unfamiliar tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. "Thank you, Ker…so much."

"It's only a representation…I'm sorry I couldn't give you more." Raven found herself in a tender hug that she found herself welcoming. But the words whispered in her ear, only half-understood but heavy with feeling, made her freeze in shock. _"Sayonara…koishii."_

And Ker was gone, striding off across the lunchroom. Raven didn't break out of her shock until her mind finally translated the kanji etched into the pendant. _Ai…oh Azar…_ Her hand tightened around the pendant and she stood up, trying to find the other teen.

* * *

"I see you finally came to your senses and dumped her?" asked Faris of Ker, as the lighter colored of the two boys paused at the school exit.

"In a manner of speaking," said Ker heavily, not looking over his shoulder at his old friend, who was walking towards him. His eyes narrowed as Faris's ethereal reflection in the glass of the door visibly slumped in relief.

"Thank the gods, and all other assorted higher powers. I knew you'd regain your senses."

"You can't regain something you never had, Faris. I'm through putting _ninjo_ before _giri_."

A scowl turned Faris's handsome face ugly, and he clamped his hand down on Ker's shoulder, spinning him around. "There is no way in HELL that you're going to go join those damn Titans! You can't give away the secret!"

Ker bared his teeth and grabbed Faris's forearm, triggering a pain point to make Faris release his shoulder, then twisted Faris's limb into a series of joint locks that left Faris helpless and in pain on the ground before him. "Did I say I was? Huh? No…I'm gone."

"You can't abandon your friends like that!" accused Faris.

"If I can walk away from Rachel after giving her the pendant, I sure as hell can! You know what that pendant says!"

"_AI!"_ spat Faris, "Dammit, Ker, I know! There's one just like it around Sarah's neck! She's never taken the cursed thing off, even if it doesn't mean anything anymore!"

"Oh no…it still means something. Past, present, or future, that one character is truth! You know the translation full well!"

"Love," came the soft word from the Middle Eastern-blooded boy's lips. Then a hard set creased his face and a flash like a piece of magnesium burning smashed into Ker's eyes, making him release the other teen's arm and stumble backwards into the door. He was just blinking away the afterimage when Faris's punch slammed into his jaw. "I KNOW DAMN WELL WHAT IT MEANS! IT MEANS THAT THERE WON'T EVER BE ANOTHER PERSON THAT CAN COMPARE! IT MEANS THAT SARAH WON'T EVER BE WITH A PERSON WITHOUT LOVING THAT DAMN HUNK OF METAL MORE THAN THEM!"

A kick slammed into Ker's stomach and he found himself flying through the door. When his vision cleared, he saw a spent-looking Faris standing there, looking defeated. "Why did you have to steal her from me?"

Ker had no answer, instead getting to his feet and turning before putting one foot in front of the other…walking away.

* * *

Ker stared down at the two cloth bags that rested in the trunk of his car, both curved by the form of their contents. With an exhaled breath, he picked up the special leather belt that lay coiled between them and undid the one he wore now, exchanging it for the new one, which had special fittings on it. Resting his head against the trunk's metal, he gathered himself for a few seconds before putting his hands on it to close it.

"Leaving town?" asked a voice from behind him, one that seemed to be trying to stay flat, but was not quite managing it.

Ker closed the trunk and turned to see a blue-cloaked and hooded figure looking at him, face in shadows. "I can't say I expected to be seeing you…nor would I expect you to really care that I am."

"I shouldn't…but I do," admitted Raven.

"The most controlled of the Titans cares that some civilian is leaving town even though the sum total of her contact with him was a healing session," scoffed Ker bitterly, sitting back on the car. "You'll excuse me if I don't believe you. Are you here to take me to the police because my actions in the mall violated some societal law? If so…" He held out his hands, wrists together. "…But it seems monumentally stupid to punish someone for doing the right thing, even if the right thing isn't what law says is right."

"You are not just some civilian," corrected Raven. "You are _bushi, neh?_ A warrior."

Ker gave a sharp nod. _"Kitsu._ Then you understand why I must leave."

Raven moved closer, still hidden under the cloak. "To an extent. What I do not understand is how you can give up friends, a life, a love…all so easily."

"_Giri _over _ninjo_. Duty is far more important than one's own feelings. It is simple…but it is hardly easy."

"Why leave, then? Why not join with us?"

"Because this city has plenty of heroes, and it certainly doesn't need a warrior. You Titans have always come through for the city."

"By the barest of margins! A warrior could only be a good thing! We always need more strength! Don't you remember when Jump was taken over? It was only that one resistance group that fought on while we were all gone that let us even make it to Slade!"

Ker's face was a picture of disbelief. _"Nanda?"_

"Oh, don't tell me that you've not heard of them. They saved thousands of lives by delaying the advance through the city, and it was only their sabotaging of the surveillance system Slade put in place that let us even show our heads after Terra defeated us. As far as I'm concerned, they should be part of the Titans! There's swordsmen out there who are owed a great deal…wait…"

Ker drew in a deep breath. "A warrior does not fight for praise. They do what they do because it is the right thing. Duty. But only one of the swordsmen really deserves credit for the deeds."

"That is not true, even if it was your father that did most of the work."

"I'm not going to ask how you know it was my father that was the one who organized that fight. But…"

Raven interrupted him, pulling down her hood. "Perhaps you should, Ker." Sadly, she unfastened the cloak's clasp and let it slide to the ground, letting her 'Rachel' clothing show. "I'm sorry that the girl you loved wasn't real." She held out the pendant. "Here. I wish there was something I could do to make this better, but there isn't anything but the truth."

Ker's expression was pained. "That pendant belongs to you. I cannot take it."

"I am not Rachel. My name is Raven. You did not fall in love with me! You fell in love with her." The last sentence was bitter, then her tone turned pleading. "Take it back. Please…I can't take this from you."

Ker's hand folded hers around the pendant. "If you are not Rachel, then I did not fall in love with Rachel. When I looked into your eyes and saw your beautiful soul, it was no lie. That pendant is yours."

Raven's eyes closed tight against scalding tears as she held the necklace to her and a pair of arms wrapped around her. "Must you go?"

Ker pressed his lips against her forehead, then released her with a sad smile. _"Hai…ai shiteru."_

"_Sayonara…"

* * *

_

Later, as Raven sat on a bench, pondering this newest turn of fate, pendant caressing her skin, she was surprised to hear Sarah's voice. "You know, you really should have said _ja ne_, not _sayonara_."

"What?"

"He'll be back. His prophecy isn't over…and for better or worse, it's entwined with yours."

"How do you know about these things?" asked Raven sharply.

"Perhaps I should reintroduce myself," said Sarah. "Call me…Soothsayer."

* * *

A/N: If you're surprised by how this chapter went, you're not alone. It took on a life of its own about halfway through Raven's reveal, and sent the plot in a somewhat different direction than I had intended. But this is where things are really starting. What you've seen so far is nothing but some introduction...some foreshadowing and setting up of characters. As the song goes: "You ain't seen nothing yet."


	10. Familiarity

Unsuspected Heroes

* * *

An alternate look at the Prophecies Universe

* * *

Robin was surprised to find Raven standing in the doorway to his workroom. "Raven? What's wrong? Shouldn't you be at school?" Standing up from where he was sitting, and setting down a threat analysis report that the police had put together, he started to take a step towards her, when her flat voice stopped him.

"The mission proved inconclusive, outside of determining that Ker Selais was not the person responsible for the capture of the teenaged bank robbers. My cover has deteriorated to a level that made me decide to cancel my false enrollment. Also, the effort to recruit Ker Selais into the Titans was ineffective. He has left Jump City on what I assume to be a solo metahuman vigilante career. That's…that's all there is to report." Raven turned and walked away, leaving Robin to ponder the quaver that had crept into her voice, as well as her military-like report. He didn't notice the small loop of fine gold chain that protruded from her fist.

* * *

The wind ruffled Raven's hair, still in the 'Rachel' style, as her calves dangled off the edge of the Tower's rooftop. She wasn't meditating, nor was she looking out at the endless sea or the bustling city. She was looking at the pendant, cupped in the palm of one hand as she tugged listlessly at the chain with the tip of one slender finger.

_How could he give me up? I don't doubt that he meant every word he said…but how could he find duty to be more important than love? Why didn't he stay and fight alongside us…as he did in the past. What makes a person willingly separate themselves from someone they love?_

She didn't like the answer she found, admitting it to the wind. "Because the one they love has hurt them so badly that they can't stand to be in their presence anymore. Because the only way to preserve that sacred emotion is to keep it away from reality. Because you love the thought of loving more than you love the person." She tilted her hand, thinking to drop the pendant.

"Or you might just have been raised like a samurai."

Raven's fist closed around the pendant and turned to see someone in a marching band uniform standing there…the person she had been trying to find the identity of. "Who in Azar's name are you?"

"That's something you're not going to find out," promised the figure darkly. "So don't bother trying. Some of us aren't the type who are happy being paraded around as freakish saviors."

Raven's eyes started to glow dully. "Why would you not want to be recognized? A good deed deserves reward."

"And mine is a normal life. I'm no warrior, not like the guy who gave you that necklace. I'm not selfless enough to give myself up to a cause. I'll help, but I want my life. He…he'll give up anything to do what he thinks is right. You think you drove him away? He left because he knows that others need his blade, because for him to do what he does allied with you would ruin the Titans. You think that you made that character on the pendant a lie?" The figure laughed scornfully. "It was a lie when he etched it into that metal. He can't love because to love means to be selfish…and he can't do that. He has to be the paragon of a warrior, even when he pretends to be human."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I want you to know exactly why you should throw that thing away. Why he's not coming back. It wasn't you…it was him all along."

Raven let the glow in her eyes fade, and looked at the uniformed person with an intense and accusing stare. "No…it's not a lie. Lying is something he doesn't do." She settled the pendant around her neck. "Know this…I will wear this pendant forever, even if I love another. It tells me that there is at least one person in the world who can see me for what I am…and that I can see for what they are. Now leave…before I make you leave."

The figure snorted. "Believe what you want. But don't come crying to me when you find the truth." He faded away.

Raven stared at the spot where he had stood for a minute or more, a chill breeze blowing her cloak out to her side. Goosebumps rose on her skin, but she did not feel cold.

* * *

Raven shadow-warped into her room and brought out a brush calligraphy set that Starfire had gotten her as a 'friendship bonding' gift. Though she had never used it, she understood why Starfire might have thought it appropriate for her. The art of the brush was one of concentration, discipline, and one of expression. It was a way that she could safely express herself. She hadn't quite gotten that until now, but she figured that it might be good to use the gift. Eight sheets were included…that would work perfectly. Mixing the ink, Raven set to work.

Even after being on Earth for as long as she had, and living with her friends, Starfire still often felt like she did not belong on Earth. Some days, she spent sequestered in her room, much like her one Earth-dwelling female friend who was still flesh and blood. It did let her practice some of the rituals that the Warlords of Okaara had taught her so long ago, melding her mind, emotions, and body into a more cohesive unit. Had the other Titans seen her practicing the mostly forgotten rituals, they might have thought that she was stumblingly emulating Raven or Robin. But it was not that.

Each time she performed them, she felt a stab of shame that she could not remember them better. But still she did, hoping to remember more.

She was about halfway through with one when there came a light knocking at the door. As stuck as she was with it, she didn't resent the interruption too much…even less so when Raven's voice came through the door. "Starfire? Can I come in?"

The Tamaranian walked over to the door and opened it. "Of course, Friend Raven! To what fortuitous event do I owe thanks for the pleasure of your company?" It was a mouthful, but that was Starfire for you.

"Several…and some not so good," answered Raven. "But I wanted to give you this." She handed over a sheet of paper with the word _ganshiki_ brushed in black ink upon it. "I finally was able to use that calligraphy set you gave me…and I thought that you should have this."

Starfire took the paper reverently. "I shall treasure this beautiful gift. Please, my friend, how does it read?"

"_Ganshiki_…insight."

Starfire nodded solemnly. "Have you used the other sheets?"

Raven nodded. _"Gi…Yu…Jin…Rei…Makoto…Meiyo…Chugi."_ She paused for a second. "Rectitude…Courage…Benevolence…Respect…Honesty…Honor…Loyalty."

Starfire cocked her head to the side. "Worthy virtues, my friend. How did you know the seven pillars taught by the Warlords of Okaara?"

Raven looked at her strangely. "I didn't. That's the seven virtues of _Bushido_…the Way of the Warrior."

"From Azarath?"

"No…from Japan."

Starfire opened her mouth to ask a question when the alarms went off.

* * *

Raven's lavender eyes narrowed as the Titans pursued a shadowy figure down an alleyway. This all felt hauntingly familiar. Had they fought this foe before?

She got her answer when the burst of crimson Xs came flying at them like a handful of shiryuken. Red X…but Robin was with them, and had been from the start of this chase. What was happening?

Then there was no time to think, and only a hastily erected telekinetic shield kept her from becoming a pincushion. Dropping it proved a mistake as a punch caught her in the jaw and dropped her to the floor. The suited miscreant cocked his head to the side as he looked down on her. "Nice necklace."

Then he was ducking under a horizontal bo staff swing that flowed into stabbing lunge with the butt of the collapsible metal pole as Robin slid the blunt weapon around his back in an extremely fluid motion. X batted aside the stab and swept Robin's feet from under the Teen Wonder before darting away from a sonic cannon blast and returning fire with a series of Xs from his palms that punched shallow holes into the ground and walls of the alleyway as Cyborg hopped out of the way, and right into an X that wrapped him up tightly.

Beast Boy took that moment to launch his attack, jumping from the roof of one of the two buildings that formed the alleyway, in grizzly bear form both forepaws swinging…only to find X disappearing in front of him, and the ground that he hit awfully hard. Raven got to her feet and shot a empty beer bottle at the black-clad thief, wincing as he dodged it, and it exploded awfully close to Starfire, who had worked around back of X and was flying in at him. "Sorry…I don't drink on the job…OOOF!"

Starfire's flying tackle worked well for all of two seconds, X somehow contorting and twisting so that when they hit the ground, he pinned Starfire. "So, what do you think? Doesn't this suit look better on me than bird-boy?"

Starfire answered with a burst from her eyebeams that sent X flying, though not without enough presence of mind to pin her with a capture X. "Hoo…if looks could kill. Anyway, thanks for the fun, but I've really got to be going." He pressed at the belt buckle and started to disappear, only to have the device short, and keep him solid for one of the ends of Robin's staff to impact his temple. But Robin's follow-up overhead swing that would have left X out cold didn't hit anything but the ground, as the phasing device decided to work. "DAMMIT!"

* * *

Raven waited quietly as Robin paced back and forth in front of the Titans, assembled in the common room for a briefing. The Teen Wonder finally stopped and looked at them. "It would seem pretty obvious that we've got a problem on our hands. Red X is back…and this time, it's not me in the suit. I checked the vault where I was keeping it, and found it stolen."

"Oh…just a tiny little problem…especially since that suit can take us all down easy, dawg! Why didn't you just destroy it?"

Robin looked at Cyborg wearily. "Xenothium powered devices aren't exactly the easiest things to dispose of safely."

At the word xenothium, Raven sucked in an involuntary breath and Cyborg was stunned into silence. Starfire covered her mouth with her hands and even Beast Boy looked awed.

"Oooo…I never get anything like this," complained the changeling after a second, shaking his head in ignorance.

That snapped Cyborg out of his silence. "Xenothium! You were stupid enough to mess around with xenothium? I don't think there's a more unstable substance on Earth!"

"I know," growled Robin. "But I needed a lightweight power source that would let me defeat all of you. Xenothium fit the bill. Why do you think I haven't used the X suit, or at least the gadgets?"

"There is one precious metallic lining in this collection of precipitation," observed Stafire, "Xenothium degrades quickly when being drawn on for power. Our new X will be dependent on it."

"Star's right," confirmed Robin, "So you can bet that he'll be looking for it. And there's only two places he could get it. Let's get to work."

* * *

AN: Well, here's this next chapter. Not the strongest, but that should change soon enough. Tell me what you think by your wonderful reviews.


	11. The Shadows Before

Unsuspected Heroes

* * *

An alternate look at the Prophecies Universe

* * *

A/N: It's been forever since my last update, and this one is really short. I know. I've had some rather serious computer troubles, and this is the first update from my new computer. I promise, the next update will be better, and finish off both the X plotline and the scene that you see the beginning of at the end of the chapter. Anyway...I'm back.

* * *

Robin didn't find the old observatory the least bit inviting, no matter that it was a familiar location. But Chang was a valuable source for cutting edge tech and materials. Without his help, the Red X suit would not have been possible, the good Professor's amorality aside.

Robin took the 'ninja' approach for his entrance, dropping down from the rafters above the weapons dealer. "Hello, Chang."

The old Asian man started and spun to seen the Teen Wonder standing behind him, his surprise quite excusable, considering the way Robin had appeared. "Oh! Robin! You should not startle this old man like that. Now…how can I help you, protégé of Batman? I have a number of new designs…"

The Titans' leader slashed his hand to the side, cutting off Chang's simpering and quite annoying voice. "Shut up, Chang. I'm not interested in the prototypes you've abandoned but keep lying around to make a quick buck. I want information. The X suit."

"Why Robin, what could I tell you about that suit that you do not already know? We built it together, you recall. It was such a pleasure to work with a good little boy who appreciates dangerous toys…"

"You know full well I'm not talking about that, Chang. Now start talking about what I want to know about." He let a razor-edged birdarang slide into his palm.

A sly smile crossed Chang's face. "Why Robin…you would not have lost the suit, would you have?"

The Teen Wonder growled, fingers tightening on the bladed throwing weapon he clutched. "Deeper hole, Chang."

The baggy-suited weapons broker turned from Robin with an innocent expression. "I merely wished to know, dear boy. Such a pity. That suit was a work of art. Second to none but my latest project. I never could understand why you did not continue using it."

"One word. Xenothium. So I take it that you're going to tell me that you haven't seen the X suit."

"No," said Chang, bending back to his work. "Nor do I have xenothium to power it. In fact, I have seen neither since you locked the suit away. Now leave me to my work. If I am to work for the government, I think that I should have a work environment uninterrupted by accusations of criminality."

Robin was already gone.

* * *

"One source of xenothium is dry," came Robin's voice through Cyborg's com, the other Titans clustered around him to view Robin's picture. "X will have to go to the unstable materials vault to get some. We'll be guarding it until he makes his move. I'm still a ways out. Join you soon."

The screen blanked out and Cyborg lowered his arm to his side. "Well, that's that, dawgs. I guess we wait."

The other Titans shrugged and went off to their guard positions. There really wasn't much else to do.

* * *

Impatience wasn't often a vice that Raven let herself indulge in, but the Titans had been waiting for a good fourteen hours, and still Red X had not come. In this case, she felt somewhat justified in taking a walk to one of the other guard spots to see if another Titan might want to talk. Boredom dulled the senses, and perhaps a quick chat with one of the others would give her senses a finer edge.

Still, it was odd to see Cyborg practicing DDR…badly…and without a machine. The piece of J-pop that he danced to just made it an even stranger scene, the lyrics about a girl searching for a strong yet shy samurai…love interest most likely. Shaking her lavender-haired head, she moved on.

But as she found herself alone in a hallway, her hand rose to the pendant. "Topical lyrics," she whispered. _I wonder where my samurai is. I hope he's alright…

* * *

_

Where indeed…

Ker ducked underneath the longsword's cut, the pattern-welded steel blade's fine edge trimming a few strands of hair from the fast-growing beginnings of a ponytail that Ker was now sporting.

"_Boneheaded, overly religious, fanatical, sword-wielding pain in my ASS!"_ cursed Ker in Japanese.


	12. Clash

Unsuspected Heroes

* * *

An alternate look at the Prophecies Universe

* * *

Raven was rather rudely shocked out of her ruminations on Ker by the phasing-in of one Red X right in front of her. Of course, his reaction was equally surprised, both of them stumbling back a few steps into combat crouches. X's hands formed a pair of loose fists and Raven clawed her fingers, outlining them in ebony telekinetic energy.

"Fancy meeting you here…come here often?" asked X, regaining his composure.

"Titans! X is here!" yelled Raven.

"And I thought we were going to have a tender private moment," lamented X sarcastically. With that he launched himself at Raven with a series of quick steps, spinning around into a smooth roundhouse kick at Raven's torso as he made the last one.

Raven was ready, though. Close combat was certainly not her specialty, but that didn't mean she didn't know how to fight. Drawing her left arm in close, she took the kick on the side of both her fore and upper arm, wincing at the force behind the kick, then reached over and grabbed the thief's ankle with her free hand, intending to treat the rouge to a TK-enhanced toss.

It didn't quite work out that way. Raven got her hand and TK on X's ankle sure enough, but he used it as a pivot point to bring his other leg up in a kick against the side of her head. It looked absurd, but because Raven was using TK, she could support his weight for as long as X needed to make the strike.

Of course, taking a kick to the head is an excellent way to screw up one's concentration, so the TK was dispelled on impact, but X was ready for that, too. Arcing his back, he threw his palms flat against the floor and turned his fall into a backflip that freed his ankle from Raven's grasp as she slumped against the wall.

And then he was ducking under a myomer-driven punch from Cyborg, extending one leg straight out while he compressed the other. Taking advantage of Cyborg being off-balance, he grabbed onto the arm that had just completed the right hook and pulled down, vaulting himself into the air, and sending the half-machine teen towards the ground, a condition that he aggravated by using Cyborg as a springboard for a flying kick at the newly-arrived Beast Boy, who was in a howling wolf form leap one second, and in a sprawled and dazed heap against the wall the next.

Landing, X spun to see Cyborg aiming a sonic cannon at him, and sensibly dodged the blast…right into a telekinetic burst from the still slumped Raven, who let a hint of a pleased smile cross her lips at that moment. X was knocked to the ground, giving Cyborg the time to rise to his feet and move in on the disadvantaged X, bent and ready for a tackle.

But X wasn't as down as he seemed, sticking his legs out and rotating them as he cracked his body like a whip, regaining his footing acrobatically, and using the momentum from his recovery to bring a pair of joined down on Cyborg's skull. As Cyborg was once again driven face-first into the floor, X rose above the failed tackle with a split-legged vault and fired off a flurry of Xs to intercept Starfire's volley of starbolts. There wasn't much he could do to avoid her flying tackle, though, and the breath was blasted from his lungs as he was carried down the hallway a ways before disappearing into a phase teleport.

As a reflexive escape, it worked out well for the thief, as, with a lack of cushioning from his body, Starfire's momentum drove her head through the wall up to her neck. It didn't hurt her exactly…but it did daze her, and force her attention upon freeing herself. Robin, however, was not stuck in a wall. Having just arrived on the scene, he extended his staff and charged in with a fierce war cry, opening up with an vertical two-handed blow that X ducked to the side of, then jumped back as Robin switched his grip so as to snake it to the side and into X's ribs.

The tip of the staff just passed by X's body as he jumped back, and Robin used the lack of resistance to his strike as his cue to change his attack. The staff twisted three-dimensionally and Robin brought it around in a stabbing arc that looked as if it was to tag X in the chin. X dodged it with a step back, as the Teen Wonder had predicted. Adjusting his grip again, Robin turned the follow-through into a strike that flashed up in between X's legs.

The thief only barely got his hands down in time to interpose his palms against the hard metal pole. "That's just not _nice_."

"What can I say?" asked Robin, "I just don't like you very much." Then he snapped his body forward and reversed the strike to tag X right where his nose would be under the mask with the other end of the staff. The thief staggered backwards as Robin smirked viciously. "Ready to give up, X?"

The thief shook his head to clear up the dazed feeling he had gotten from the shot to the face. "No…but I guess playtime's over." Three X's appeared in between his fingers with a deft motion, and were soon spinning towards Robin, X following right behind them with spinning blades on the backs of each of his wrists. The Teen Wonder, having just barely sidestepped the thrown weapons, found himself hard pressed to keep up with X's assault. It was a simple equation. Robin had much more range with his weapon, as well as the ability to do quite a number of very deceptive things with it, but X could chain attacks much more easily and was effective close it, some thing which Robin was really not, needing space to get in a good swing. And now X had closed the range to near nil.

The Teen Wonder gave ground steadily, doing his best to misdirect strikes that he simply couldn't avoid with small movements of his staff, but it wasn't going so well. Already he had a bloody groove in his leading upper arm and another thin red line across his cheek. He grit his teeth as he twisted painfully out of the way of another spinning blade, then gasped as his forearm was scored by a deceptive rising strike. "Dammit…" Robin took the risk of snaking his staff down to work a leg trip on X, leaving himself without defense save to dodge.

It paid off, for a change, and X found himself off balance with a view of an onrushing green-gloved fist. Robin's uppercut landed squarely on X's off-balance chin and sent him stumbling backwards, only to be further accelerated by a roundhouse kick. Still, X was starting to regain his form when Robin came down with the kicking foot leading, using a torso twist to add power to his palm strike, which landed true on the thief's sternum, sending him flying back. "Like you said…playtime's over."

X coughed and tapped at his belt, the phase-teleport taking effect. "Not bad, kid. But you got lucky this time. You can't keep me away from that xenothium forever."

The somewhat beaten Titans formed up around Robin, who pressed a hand to the wound in his upper arm.

"He's right, you know," observed Cyborg. "We really can't keep him away forever."

Robin frowned. "I know. But we only need to keep him away long enough so as that he runs out of xenothium. He's already started to conserve his power. If we can keep him from getting any, the suit will become useless, and he won't be able to phase away."

"How long will his power last?" asked Raven somewhat bitterly.

"I can't really say."

"I am filled with joy," deadpanned Raven, irritable due to the throbbing of her head. "Now, I'm going back to the Tower and meditating." With that, she shadow-warped out.

* * *

Had all the troubles Ker had that day be of the sort that his order at the fast food restaurant been a little wrong, he would have been relatively content. But his problem that day wasn't that. His order was perfect when he got it, the drink machine wasn't low on syrup or carbonation…all in all, it was one of the most pleasing fast food experiences of the last few months.

That didn't mean that the day wasn't a bad one. After all, most people consider it a less than pleasant business when someone tries to kill you.

Ker was, at that moment, trying to keep someone, he wasn't sure exactly who, from cutting him into little pieces with what looked to be a pattern-welded longsword. Their face wasn't visible, the helmet of a full suit of plate armor hiding their head. Over the burnished steel shell, they wore a white cloth slip with crosses in crimson on both front and back, gold thread outlining the crosses…the spitting image of the Crusader.

"Die demon! You have no place on God's green earth!" The armor-wearing swordsman punctuated his command with a single-handed thrust of his blade, which Ker dodged with a turning sidestep, putting his gaze even with the flat of the sword.

_Yeah…definitely pattern-welded. Nice blade…just wish you weren't trying to use it to KILL me! _Ker still hadn't draw either of his swords yet, hoping that reason could yet win out in this highly unusual situation. That didn't mean that he wasn't going to fight back, though. Entering, he grabbed the knight-like warrior's forearm at both wrist and elbow, then swept his leg through the other combatant's forward leg while tossing with the other arm. It worked well, dropping the knight to the parking lot with a sound like the clattering of twenty pots and pans.

The slender martial artist retreated a number of steps as the knight struggled to their feet. "Dammit, I'm not a demon! Get that damn sword away from my body! Whoa!" Ker ducked a sword swing, the fine blade trimming a few strands out of the fast growing ponytail he now sported. "_Boneheaded, overly religious, fanatical, sword-wielding pain in my ASS!"_ cursed Ker in Japanese.

"You think I would trust the words of one of the devil's servants? HAA!" Ker found himself needing to sidestep a looping thrust that raised his estimation of the armored warrior's skills a few notches. That was the kind of move one performed with a rapier or jian, not a two-handed longsword…perhaps it was a very large bastard sword, thought Ker, reassessing the hilt. They had coordination, as well as arm strength.

The attack would have been better suited to an enemy holding a sword though, instead of one who was merely dodging. From this, Ker gathered that his opponent had trained for a very long time by himself, but never got much of a chance to spar or fight. A wolfish smile began to spread across his face. The fight was his, so long as he actually did something proactive, and didn't screw up by the numbers.

When the knight set up for a straight stab, Ker decided that it was time to get to work. As the blade shot at his skull, he swept it out of the way with the back of one gloved hand. Entering, and switching to a side-on stance, he grabbed the knight's wrist and twisted, popping the sword from his opponent's hand, the weapon striking sparks as it skittered across the blacktop. That accomplished, he arced a toe kick up into the other man's unprotected armpit before using the knight's wrist as a pivot point to come up and around, smashing both his heels into the side of his opponent's helmeted head.

The martial artist landed amid yet another clatter of armor, looking down at his opponent, holding a defensive stance. It wasn't long before the knight was rising off the ground in a rush, shoulder leading to smash Ker in the chest. "DIE, DEMON!"

Ker just wasn't there. He had sidestepped and arced a kick into the charging man's back, sending him to the ground again, skidding along with a bow wave of sparks. "Now look," said Ker in English, standing with his back to the other combatant. "I think I've been more than reasonable to not draw steel and set you to leaking, but by the Fates above, that if you persist in trying to slay me like a demon…which I'm NOT, I will be forced to put you down and hard. And it won't even be difficult considering you've got…no…sword…" Realization dawned on him and he turned to the armored swordsman, grimacing. "That was stupid of me, wasn't it?"

"Just a little bit, hellspawn," agreed the religious man with a hungry mirth Ker didn't feel as well. "Come on then, draw your blades! It will not avail you!"

"_I've been controlling this fight without using my swords…and he thinks that he can win if I actually draw?" _muttered Ker to himself in Japanese as he drew his two gleaming blades. _"Baka."_ He set for the larger man's attack, which came in the form of a overhand cut that was parried by Kanesada, Ker's right-hand blade.

Feeling the vibrations as the longsword's edge impacted on the katana's flat, Ker pushed outwards with his weapon, moving the arc of the swing away from his body, even as he brought the pommel of the other blade across and into what would be an unarmored man's temple. The impact sounded like a cross between a bell and a gong, and sent the armored warrior to their knees.

Disengaging Kanesada from the longsword, just as the blades' tips were about to hit the pavement, Ker brought it up and under, tip edging in underneath the helmet's lip. "Fight's over, _wakimarisen ka?_"

"Yes," replied the armored man sullenly, nodding slightly and dropping his sword.

"_Naze._ Now…I think it's high time that you explained why you so diligently attempted to forcibly exsanguinate me."

"I have been given a mission from God to exterminate demons and those that love them," came the defiant answer.

"_Chikushou…_you aren't one of those idiots that call metahumans demons are you?"

"Of course not…who would be so stupid?"

"_Far too many people,"_ muttered Ker. "Now…this brings up a question. Why me? I'm a meta, if only barely. Not a demon. Well…I suppose the one I love might be a half-demon."

"How does she fare in her test?"

"I'll assume that you're asking whether she prefers her demon or human blood. And the answer's human."

"She fares well…it seems I attacked you unjustly."

"You think?" asked Ker, not without a dose of sarcasm. He removed Kanesada's tip from under the helmet's lip and gestured upwards with it. "Come on Chuckles, up." The Japanese-speaking metahuman sheathed Muramasa, his other sword, as he watched the armored man stand.

"My name is Templar," offered the armored warrior.

"Kenkaku. So paladin-boy, what precisely were you doing here. I mean, it's not exactly standard attire for Wendys, full-plate armor."

"God's will."

Ker had just picked up the longsword and was just about to toss it back to Templar when he heard that and froze. "Hadn't we established quite firmly that I'm NOT a demon. Correct me if I'm wrong…"

"You're correct."

"Explain."

"It might take a little while…"

"Humor me, altar boy."

* * *

Half an hour later, Ker shook his head as he drove along the highway, a large Aryan-esque boy with claw marks across their left eye in the passenger's seat next to him. "I can't believe I let you talk me into this."

"Have faith in God's will, Kenkaku."

"Oh, shut up."

* * *

A/N: It's been forever...I know. Honestly, it's getting to be a bit of a refrain. But here's the goods. Some nice combat to sooth what ails you. Please do review...I love those reviews, and I'll try to be faster with the next update.


	13. Blood

Unsuspected Heroes

* * *

An alternative look at the Prophecies Universe

* * *

A/N: As bloody as the swordfights have been up to this point (hey, that's what happens when one uses blades), I feel that I should warn all you readers that things are going to get even more 'messy' from now on. Speaking flat out, this means deaths. Lives and what you may have thought of as plotlines cut short.

* * *

_Sweet Azar…_ Raven, normally a fairly graceful person, staggered backwards upon walking into the common room. She had been disturbed by a commotion while meditating in her room and come to investigate. _Who could be so brutal?_

Red X's body lay in a crimson pool, decorated by numerous lacerations that still leaked blood, though it was certainly not due to any activity of the thief's heart. He was uncompromisingly dead, pinned to the floor by a blunt-edged saber which had once been white through his heart. "A color guard saber…" She shook her head. Surely that boy couldn't have done this. Sighing, she closed the death-dulled blue eyes of Red X's finally-unmasked visage, and shuddered at the look of sheer horror that was engraved on the dead thief's face.

It reminded her of the aftermath of Trigon's attack on Azarath.

As brutal as what had happened to X, the other bodies in the room were worse. Upon the capture and medical treatment of Jinx in Titan's Tower, the city had insisted on having a crack squad of the JCPD's Metahuman Control Unit present to provide security on any breakout attempts the pink-haired girl would make. None of the Titans found it likely that she would even take up crime again after what Ker had done to her with that blade, but they humored the city, so long as the black and white armored cops stayed inconspicuous. In fact, Cyborg had gotten into a poker group with a few of them.

Raven rather doubted that Cyborg would be playing cards with them anytime soon. It seemed that the squad had decided to take advantage of the common room while the Titans were out…and were simply caught at the wrong place at the wrong time.

'Butchered' was the only word applicable.

Corpses missing limbs, heads, a few split in half…the grisly remains only heightened her memories of the graveyard that Azarath had become. The worst was one who had a gaping wound across his torso, a slash that had opened him up, but not cut through, leaving shredded internal organs on display. That brought back even more bad memories.

Of course, it wasn't Trigon who did it. That much was obvious. No demonic aura on the wounds, for one. And there was one corpse who was untouched outside of a dime-sized hole burnt through the helmet. Trigon would have never done something like that. No, he or any of his minions would have desecrated them all. Nor would they have given the cops time to fire back, she mused, noting numerous scorch marks on the walls.

"It's almost as if this was simply the most effective mode of fighting for them…" That brought up memories of Ker's definition of 'fights'. She clutched her pendant. It couldn't be Ker. It just couldn't.

But…it could be someone who shared his philosophy on fighting…

* * *

"So that's the story," finished Raven over the T-com. "I think I may have a lead on tracking down whoever did it. Raven out."

"No, wait!" commanded Robin, to no avail. Raven's image had already winked out. "Dammit. She's being way too impetuous."

"That's not like her at all," observed Beast Boy.

"Well, it's not like she's been living her usual life lately," pointed out Cyborg.

"True enough," agreed Robin, "But we've still got the problem that someone is out there, ready to slaughter, and Raven's plowing full steam ahead."

"Well then, we must assist our friend!" insisted Starfire. There was no dissent.

* * *

"Demon blood isn't poisonous, is it?" asked Ker as he spat out a mouthful of the aforementioned.

"Depends on the type," grunted Templar. "RAAH!" The armored warrior's longsword bit deeply into the flesh of a red-skinned demon, freeing another rush of the black ichor. "Nothing in the books about these being like that."

Ker rolled his eyes as he thrust both his blades out at a pair of demons charging at either of his sides, impaling them both. _"Naze,"_ he muttered sardonically as he twisted his swords and went into a spin that ripped them out of his opponents, leaving them to fall spewing to the ground. "Because I'd certainly hate to be spending a night on a cult that summoned competent servants."

Templar yanked his blade free and rolled to the side to avoid a club. "Oh, come on, Kenkaku, they aren't that bad of fighters for hellspawn. Besides, there are certainly enough of them." He came to his feet and shoulder-blocked another one while stabbing his sword through another beast's gut.

"Pfeh." Two simultaneous silver arcs freed sprays of ebon gore from the throats of yet two more of the demons facing Ker. He vaulted them, stabbing his blades into either shoulder of another, twisting himself through the air in an acrobatic trick that shredded the demon's torso below him. A whirling series of blocks, counters, and disarms started as his feet hit the ground, precise as any form. "You can't be serious. Just because something is strong…"

"Doesn't mean that it doesn't have skill. I know, I know." Templar swept his leg through his shoulder-blocked opponent's, dropping it to the ground, where he finished it with an economical throat stab that doubled as defense against an axe swing that he deflected high, letting him work an open cut across the belly of the demon in. "All I'm saying is, God has given us an enemy that he finds us worthy of."

"Fates above! I told you to shut up about religion!" Ker broke free of the crowd of summoned demons and skidded across the floor to where a VERY unholy altar was set up. A slash of Kanesada broke the runes upon it and elicited a wail of anguish from the cult's high priest. Raising a sacrificial dagger, he charged at Ker…only to slump to the ground as a fist full of sword hilt smashed into his nose, breaking it.

The pony-tailed swordsman flicked the blood off of his blades and sheathed them. According to the research they had done, the ability of the summoned demons to exist on this plane was directly related to the state the altar was in. Sure enough, Templar came wading out of a sea of the demonic bodies, wiping down his sword with a cloth. "So, where are the cultists?"

Ker quirked an eyebrow, then nodded. "That's right. You were still tied up with freeing the sacrifices when the spell went active, weren't you?" He shrugged back at the piles of demons. "Each of the cultists was to be a gateway and vessel for the soldier that came to our plane. I imagine that Mr. Happy-Stabby here would have become gateway for a lesser demon lord."

"Fitting, I suppose. To be committed to something so evil, and be consumed by it…"

"They're not so different than you, Templar. Now, get the leader and drop him off at the nearest police station." Ker grimaced as he looked at the runes adorning the walls…along with the very familiar kanji. "I've got some research to do."

* * *

About an hour later, Ker walked out of the temple to find Templar waiting for him. "Well, it looks like this was a group of scouts. Some big demon lord is likely to be pissed at us. Scath. You know of one by that name?"

"No…but it does sound familiar. By the way…your girlfriend called."

"Well, I guess we'll need to do some research…wait. Did you say my girlfriend called?"

"Uh, yeah."

"I haven't even told you her NAME."

"Come on Kenkaku…I know you're from Jump City. How many female half-demons are you going to find there? Besides, why else would Raven be calling for a largely unknown swordsman? By the way, wasn't her hair supposed to be purple?"

"Naturally…sure. What did she have to say?"

"She asked if there was anyone you knew of that had the same philosophy on fighting as you did. Seems there's some trouble back in your hometown."

"_Kuso."_


	14. Plans

Unsuspected Heroes

* * *

An alternate look at the Prophecies Universe

* * *

Cyborg shook his head as he watched the JCPD conduct their investigation and clean-up of the common room. The Titans already had all the data they needed, and it was time for the common room to be wiped of the aftermath of the slaughter…though Cyborg rather doubted that the memory of that scene would ever go away. Indeed, he felt a sense of worry at the possibility that he would be able to forget the blood and bodies. 

What would have to happen to a person to make carnage such as this insignificant? Or to create it?

He pushed such thoughts from his mind. He had other things to do. Such as check up on Jinx's recovery. The pink-haired girl was still unconscious, a result of the chemicals they had pumped into her to induce a coma. The nanobots that were doing the majority of the work on Jinx's injuries were able to do better work in comatose patients, and considering her grievous injuries, they had taken no chances. As of now, it looked like she would fully recover, physically at least. Mentally was anyone's guess.

Passing through a door guarded by a pair of new MCU officers, Cyborg found himself in the alternate sickbay. The one that was reserved for enemies, not allies. In some ways, it was an even more secure holding facility than the small detention area that the Tower held.

The only current patient was still in a neutral-buoyancy tank. A few medical technicians were on-duty, but it was obvious that they were left with nothing to do. Cyborg didn't bother them, instead striding over to the tank's main display and taking in the information offered there. What was there was promising. Any day now, she would be ready to be brought out of the medical coma.

Shifting his focus from the panel to the viewport, he stared at her now-peaceful face, surrounded by a cloud of pink hair. Not so long ago, he had actually had a relationship with her.

'_You could have been one of us.'_

It was true. He could have been. His enemies had shown him every bit as much companionship as had his friends. They had been his friends. And the sad truth was…he had betrayed them. It was for the greater good, but he had betrayed people who had trusted him. Friends. Every clash and the line between black and white got more fuzzy.

'_I could have been a lot of things.'_

Could she?

* * *

"Raven, you've got a call." Beast Boy peered into the open door of the somewhat gothic Titan's room. As she often did these days, she was looking at her new pendant, the one that guy had given her. "I think it's him." 

Slender fingers curled about the golden mote, then released it. "Right. Thanks." Shadows folded about her, and she disappeared from view, likely teleported off to the communications room.

Beast Boy sighed and turned around, heading nowhere in particular. Raven had become withdrawn again. He was glad that she had found something with that guy…he guessed, anyway, but all the old shields were going back up, and in different patterns. And Lord was he jealous. Jealous of Raven for finding a special someone…and jealous of him for finding Raven, of all people.

He needed to do something. Something distracting. Something that would take his mind off of his life.

But nothing came to mind.

* * *

"Hello, Ker," said Raven, a little shyly, seeing the face of the boy who loved her for the first time since he had left Jump City. 

He gave her a little smile. "Hi, Raven. You guys having some trouble back home?"

She nodded. "Red X is dead…killed with a color guard saber, along with a full squad of elite officers from the MCU. They were butchered right in the common room of the Tower. We're looking for who did it."

One of Ker's eyebrows rose. "The cameras didn't catch it? No sensor records?"

She shrugged. "According to Cyborg, there's some really weird interference during the whole thing. We've got some basic movement patterns, but that's it."

Ker's face brightened. "That could be helpful. If you send the patterns to me, I could help you analyze the footwork for tendencies of styles."

"I'll do that. Ker, I never did tell you why I was at the school, right?"

He shrugged. "I assumed that you thought you found evidence of metahuman activity and were trying to find them. Well, me. Never really seemed important."

Raven frowned, but only a little. "That's sort of correct. There was an incident during which a vigilante with some sort of light-based power took down a few crooks. They were also using a band uniform for their costume, along with a color guard saber as a weapon. I was supposed to find them…"

Ker nodded. "And due to me being in band, along with my training, I was a prime suspect. That makes sense. And with this color guard saber being used in this killing, you think it's the same person?"

"It's possible…" admitted Raven, "But I talked to them recently…they seem to know you, by the way. And they're not exactly on good terms with you, either. But they didn't seem ready to do that…"

He frowned. "People are capable of doing much more than you'd think. Point of example. I've only recently washed off quite a bit of black blood."

"Demons?" asked Raven, dreading the answer.

"Yeah. I'm fine, and so is Templar…"

"Do you know who sent them after you?" she asked worriedly.

"Actually, we stopped a scouting party. Near as I could make it out, they were bound to a demon lord by the name of Scath."

Raven froze. "Did you say Scath?" At Ker's nod, she covered her face with her hands. "No…Ker…Scath is Trigon…Trigon the Terrible."

Ker gave her a questioning look, then yelled at someone off-screen. "Yo, altar-boy!"

"Stop calling me that!" Templar walked into the picture, and waved. "Hello. So what's this about Kaku?"

"Stop calling me -that-," grumbled Ker. "You're the expert on the demon hierarchy. Have you heard of a Trigon the Terrible?"

Templar gaped at the increasingly longer-haired swordsman. "How have you NOT?"

Ker gave a long-suffering sigh. "Humor me."

"HE'S SATAN, YOU AGNOSTIC FOOL!"

Ker raised an eyebrow. "Wow…we just pissed off the Morningstar? Suddenly last night doesn't seem like such a waste after all."

"Well, we probably just oh, I don't know…FAILED GOD!"

"Funny, I think he'd like one of his crusaders striking a blow against the forces of Hell. But that's you. All I can say is that I did something that needed to be done."

"Have you thought of the fact that while God is the better of the devil, we might not be celestials?"

"And neither is he on Kanesada and Muramasa's edges. He isn't a fallen angel, he isn't a demon, and he isn't something that wants to become a god. He's human to my blades. And that means he's killable."

Raven would have found their banter amusing, if it wasn't for the dire subject matter. The two of them were somewhat like Cyborg and Beast Boy…if Robin had been slammed into them in equal parts. "Ker…you can't kill him. It's prophecy. He will take this world for his own."

"And that's bullshit," replied Ker, flatly. "Prophecy always has an element of uncertainty to it. Talk to Sarah about that…she's the expert on it. People twist prophecies for use as psychological weapons. Maybe he will come to this world, no matter what. But that doesn't mean he'll be able to TAKE it. It's always in the final outcome." A wolfish grin spread across his face. "Heh. The devil's in the details." His expression sobered. "Of course, that being said, the conflict will come. And it won't be easy. But there's hope."

"I wish I could believe you."

"Look, just talk to Sarah. She'll know the REAL prophecy, not the one Trigon disseminates. Templar and I have something to look into. It shouldn't take us long. We'll call you when we're done. _Ai shiteru, koishii._" The screen cut off.

Raven hugged her knees to her chest and looked at her pendant. _"A…ai shiteru."_ Admitting that fact to herself, she composed herself and strode strongly out of the communications room.

* * *

"So what do we have to look into, Kaku?" asked Templar as they walked from the communications room. "I mean, it's not as if we have any leads on Trigon's cults…" 

"Stop calling me that. I'm a swordsman, not the personification of victory, writing, a divide, a brush stroke, or anything of the sort."

"I don't know about the personification of victory. You're an elemental force, I swear."

"No, that would be my _sensei_."

"Whatever, Kaku. But you still haven't answered my question."

"We're going to go find Serre."

"You mean the French girl? Talon?"

"Yeah, the belle with the blessed bracer blades."

"Nice alliteration."

"_Tojikomeru."_ But Ker smiled. "Last I heard, she was operating somewhere in the Rockies. If we get moving, we should be able to catch up to her before she moves on to another cult." The two of them exited the police station and got into Ker's car, which he started.

"So, is she a savateuse?" asked Templar as they entered traffic.

"Maybe," answered Ker, "but to be honest, I doubt it. Savate wouldn't seem to lend itself well to bracer blades. Of course, she could have incorporated her weapons and savate into one martial art, but a person doesn't have to follow a martial art corresponding to their ethnicity. Hell, I'm a Roma, but I practice what might as well be a Chinese martial art."

"I thought it was Japanese."

"It is, but it shares more with internal kung fu than it does anything else. Most Japanese styles are more external, excluding aikido and judo. _Touki no Fenikkusu-ryu_ might have acrobatics in it that put Monkey-style kung fu to shame, but the core is a blending of taijiquan, baguazhang, and xingyiquan. The weapon forms were adapted for the Japanese weapons, but there's a lot of similarity between the major forms of Chinese internal martial arts and TnF. The other prime influence is Wing Chun."

"Huh." He pulled out a map. "So where in the Rockies is this girl? There's a lot of mountain range to chose from, you know."

"Technically, the foothills. Denver."

"Technically the plains outside the foothills."

"_Tojikomeru."

* * *

_

Serre, better known as Talon, perched herself in the hills above the secluded lodge where this branch of the cult she had been investigating had taken to meeting. A laser microphone trained on the main room's window related the whole meeting up to the headphones she wore.

"FOR SCATH!"

The terrifying roar of a demon came to her to her ears, along with the shouts and crashing sounds of brief combat…but no laser microphone was needed to bring the sound of the massive explosion to her ears, nor was any pair of binoculars needed to see the pillar of fire that marked what had once been the location of a hunting lodge.

Sweating, and breathing heavily, she got to her feet, dark clothing still bearing pieces of the forest floor. Brushing a strand of her strawberry-blonde hair from where it had fallen in her face, she stared at the devastation. "Cerise…what have you gone and gotten yourself into?"

* * *

A/N: HAH! I actually broke my Fates-cursed writer's block. I'm not actually going to give myself an update schedule. That's a sure course to disaster for me. But as they come you'll get them. That being said, my going to Japan on Friday is a pretty good clue that updates won't be coming for about two weeks after I leave.

Please review...I enjoy them ever so much...and I really do use them to improve my story, when given an opinion. Come on, I wrote this for your enjoyment...won't you please return the favor?


	15. Alliance

Unsuspected Heroes

* * *

An alternate look at the Prophecies Universe

* * *

"Hey…Kaku. Wake up." Templar looked over to the passenger's seat where Ker was napping most undignifiedly.

"Murfle?" questioned Ker. At least that's what it _sounded _like. Templar had a hard time believing that the noise that came out of Ker's mouth actually had any meaning.

Templar returned his attention to the road. It didn't really matter. They were close enough to their destination that there was no point in trading off positions now. He'd wake the swordsman when they got to whatever hotel they'd be setting up shop in.

Still, night driving was exceedingly boring. He could use the other boy's conversation, but he didn't see much point in begrudging the other boy sleep. Instead, he let his mind wander, figuring that it was better than trying to stay focused on a mindless task. His brain decided to settle on the subject of his fellow vigilante. This was not a new subject, and with good reason.

Firstly, though the guy wasn't a demon…or even a half-demon, he did set the enchanted crucifix that hung about Templar's neck to warning him of the presence of something demonic. That just didn't make sense…and Kenkaku didn't seem to have any explanations. Actually, for a guy who was now in the business of fighting demons, Kenkaku was remarkably knowledge-poor on the subject…his drawing a blank at Trigon's name being a prominent example. He wasn't clueless, but he sure wasn't an expert.

But what he lacked in background knowledge, he more than made up for in pure fighting prowess. He and his blades were death on the battlefield, pure and simple. He also held strong conviction, not in any faith, but simply in the warrior code and creed. And he was a good person, as much as he seemed to be borderline obsessed with his warrior philosophy not fitting in with the mores of modern society.

Templar could have done with a partner that shared his faith, but as it went, Kenkaku was a much better one than he could have reasonably expected. It was good to fight alongside a friend.

* * *

"Ker tells me you know about prophecies," stated Raven flatly.

Sarah jumped and whirled on the other girl. "AH! Would you not do that? You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"Nonsense. You couldn't possibly have a heart condition at your age that would translate into a heart attack." Despite herself, Raven gave a slight smile. She almost felt like Rachel again.

"Yeah, yeah. How'd you get in my room anyway?"

"Shadow-warped."

"Huh…so you can teleport." Raven sensed something behind that statement, but decided to just let it be. Sarah continued. "Anyway, Ker's right. My little name, Soothsayer, remember?" Raven nodded. "Well, it comes because I'm something like an oracle. In my mind is every prophecy ever written into the weave of reality. It's actually pretty useless, though. Most of them don't clear up entirely until the prophecy is taking place, and all of them are cryptic. It does mean that I'm a perfect linguist. I can speak, read, and write fluently in any language. So yeah, I know about them."

Raven nodded. That much made sense. "Ker told me that prophecies are always uncertain…but that makes no sense. I always thought the definition of a prophecy was that something would come to pass. Care to explain that?"

Sarah sat down. "Well, both are true. Prophecies are the foretelling of events…but only to a point. You could think of them like decision points for all of reality. What the outcome is…that's never decided. But pure prophecy is almost never heard. Almost inevitably, the original meaning is twisted by bias, conscious or unconscious."

"Okay…Ker said something along the lines that Trigon would come to Earth…"

"That's the decision point."

"Right…and his taking Earth?"

"That's the question, now isn't it? For the record, the prophecy Trigon uses isn't the real one. In fact, it's pretty far off from reality. The original language is actually Japanese…like every other one that involves the _Kaze Rei Bushi_. I bet you know who that is."

"Ker."

"Yeah. That's what he's been called before. He's got a big part to play in this one, as do you. As do we all."

"So…what's the prophecy?"

"It's still too covered in mist on the Fields for me to give you a coherent version…sorry. But as soon as I can, I'll tell you, okay?"

"Thanks, Sarah." Raven disappeared into a shadow-warp.

"I only wish I could feel justified in taking your thanks, my friend," lamented Sarah to the empty space where Raven had stood.

* * *

"So, how's Jinx?"

Cyborg turned from the computer to see Robin standing in his doorway. "Well enough, dawg. We'll be waking her up soon. The nannies really did a first-class job on her. She should be good as new…physically, anyway. She'll need therapy, but that was obvious from the moment we saw those wounds."

"Tell me about it. So what's got you worried? Her mental state?"

Cyborg gestured helplessly. "What else? Not to mention the fact that waking up in Titans' Tower won't exactly be a synonym with 'safe' in her mind. Add to that the fact that she considers me a betrayer…I really can't say I'm too sanguine about this whole situation."

"Well, the whole situation is plenty sanguine on its own," muttered Robin.

"Eh?"

"Sanguine doesn't just mean hopeful, it also means bloody," explained the Teen Wonder.

"Wonder how those two got connected," mused Cyborg.

"Something with an old Greek philosopher and the balance of 'humors' in one's body. Doesn't matter. Personally, I've got a really bad feeling about this. More blood is going to be spilled…mark my words." He sighed. "It almost feels like I'm back in Gotham again…but it could be worse. It isn't anything like Bludhaven."

"Yet," remarked Cyborg pessimistically.

"You've been hanging out with Raven too much, buddy. But yeah, yet."

A gloomy silence hung in the air between them until Robin backed out of the doorway and it closed behind him.

* * *

Loud grunts and yells emanated from the main gym as Starfire floated down the halls, prompting her to investigate.

"Hello, Friend Ro…Beast Boy."

Indeed, sweating and panting in front of a heavy bag that Robin normally assaulted was Beast Boy. His drenched body was trembling as he stared at the punching bag, seeming to accuse it of some injustice it had done him. It was a long few moments until he unclenched his fists…now bloody from the abuse he had put them through, and turned his head enough to greet her. "Hey, Starfire."

Before she could say anything, he slammed a side kick into the weighty canvas bag. If the alien girl was any judge, the changeling's foot was more affected than was the bag. But the elfin boy didn't stop, following up that strike with a clumsy but passable roundhouse kick. Gritting his teeth, he clenched his fists and started in again with them, throwing in a few thrust kicks that finally set the bag to swinging.

Screaming, the changeling smashed his forehead into the oncoming bag, sending him to the floor, dazed. Gasping, the Tamarenian bent down to examine him. "Friend…"

"Heh," spat Beast Boy bitterly, "They tell you to take life head-on…and look where it gets you."

* * *

Ever since the internet, libraries had become somewhat underused. Hence why George Pence spent so many quiet days. Well, quieter than usual…or less eventful, whichever one preferred. He didn't mind it so much, but it was depressing in more than a few ways. A good appreciation of books was so rare these days.

"Excuse me, sir? Do you have a section on the occult?"

The graying librarian looked up, startled. Standing with an inquisitive look on her face was a rather attractive young lady. Medium-length strawberry-blond hair framed a heart-shaped face with aqua eyes and a pert nose. "Yes, yes. I'm sorry, you startled me. Not many people your age visit here, anymore."

"Well, I have a report to do for school…"

"Of course." He stood and gestured. "If you'd just come this way Miss…"

"Delacroix. Cerise Delacroix."

"Miss Delacroix. Our section on the occult is this way." Leading the young woman there, he paused only long enough to make sure that she was having no obvious troubles, then walked back to his desk…only to find that two young men were standing there.

One was large, much like the football players that had caused so much havoc in the library only a few weeks ago. But if he shared their body type, he did not share their expression. Instead of a sneer of contempt for the knowledge contained inside the building, he had a look of respect on his face. And if he was a football player, he had been in one rough game in his past, considering the claw-mark-like scars that ran down his face. Blonde-haired and blue-eyed, he emanated virtue.

The other practically screamed 'dancer', slender and toned…if it wasn't for the warrior's fire in his eyes and the way he held himself…as if ready to slide into the flow of battle at any second. THAT screamed 'martial artist'. His decently long hair was gathered into a ponytail at the nape of his neck that was short now but promised to grow longer. He was also quite good looking, with tanned skin and a pair of intense storm-blue eyes.

The slender one spoke first, in a voice that was accented in way both like and unlike a native Japanese speaker who had acquired English as a second language. "Excuse me sir, would a strawberry-blonde girl about half a head shorter than me have come into here? She'd likely have asked for the occult section?"

"Oh, you mean Miss Delacroix? Yes, she's in the occult section. Why? Are you two partners with her on her school project?"

"Sort of…" replied the big one.

"We have similar interests and were hoping to team up for the project with her. Could you please point us to that section?"

George pointed it out. "Please do keep quiet. And good luck on your project."

"Thank you, sir."

"We'll do our best to keep quiet."

With that, the two of them walked off, leaving one George Pence with a renewed hope for the intellectual health of the youth of America.

* * *

"Was it really necessary to lie to that guy?" asked Templar in a low tone as they walked out of earshot.

Ker shrugged. "Well, what did you want to say? That we're a pair of demon hunters? True as it may be, I personally think it's better to just let the guy think we're a pair of normal students. Besides, it's not as if we lied to him…"

"You sure mislead him."

"Well, yeah. But when you really look at it, reality is formed by one's perceptions of it. He's happy as a normal librarian. Why should I inject demons into his reality?" The pony-tailed swordsman held a hand out and flipped it back and forth. "It's a case of the lesser of two evils."

"Still…"

"Consider this then. What if he was a cultist? We aren't carrying our blades, considering that they're so conspicuous, and if he had a way to call on demons, we'd be pretty well screwed, wouldn't we?"

"A very good point. My crucifix would have detected him, though."

"Yeah, well, I'm not all that trusting of that thing, considering it pegged me as a demon. Besides, sensing magic can be shielded from…that's just good sense."

"Oh, come on Kaku…its HOLY magic." Templar snorted and walked on ahead, entering the occult section first.

Ker shook his head and followed him.

* * *

"Miss Delacroix?" asked Templar. "We'd like toOOF!"

Ker executed a turning side step as Templar stumbled back at him, courtesy of a thrust kick to the gut. The girl matched Talon's description, albeit in street clothes. She had adopted a slightly side-on stance with her right hand leading…her power hand, guessed Ker, judging by it's slightly more developed knuckles, and with her elbows tucked in, protecting her lower torso.

Locking his vision onto her solar plexus, Ker let his peripheral vision go to soft focus, letting him watch her entire body at once. Her feet switched places rapidly, presenting a confusing picture to even well-trained opponents. And they were quickly coming at him.

_Right-hand vertical fist!_ Reacting quickly, he turned his head out of the way of the strike, not taking his chance to trap her arm and joint lock her. Talon quickly withdrew her strike and transferred into the next.

_Spinning back kick!_ A powerful attack by any standard. Not feeling like getting hit with it, he flowed out of the way and brought himself into a stance not unlike the one his opponent had chosen. "It's not nice to sneak up on a girl," taunted Talon, working her way speedily left around Kenkaku, to no avail. Ker pivoted, keeping his guard facing her.

_Disruptive low kicks!_ Talon's feet lashed out in a series of low strikes meant to mess with an opponent's footwork, but Ker was up to the task, neutralizing each one with mild kicks of his own that left no doubt that he knew what he was doing. "That wasn't really the idea…but one should remain quiet in a library, _neh_?"

_Chain punch!_ The blonde's fists licked out in a lightning-fast succession, not meant for power, but for sheer overwhelming quantity. Ker started an evasion and blocking routine that kept her blows from his body, but still left him pinned by her attack, unable to do anything proactive. "Yeah…you're right. So be quiet when I gut you, demon. I don't know how you corrupted anyone who wears a holy symbol like that, but you aren't getting me."

Ker slap blocked one of the punches in the chain wide…very wide. The next one impacted on his shoulder, but then he had Cerise by the wrist. This he parlayed into a joint lock that spun her around, along with a knee strike that put her on her knees. "Dammit!" he hissed into her ear, "I'm not a demon! Fates above…I fight them! Get that? We're in the same business as you, and we might just need your help with a big situation."

"So you're what? A half-demon? Fighting against your worse nature? Or are you just trying to get in that Raven girl's leotard?"

Ker's jaw dropped, then quickly shut, the long-haired swordsman gritting his teeth as he kept himself from inflicting more pain upon the girl. "Taken in order…I'm human…and that's it. I accept my warrior nature for the good it can do, and not that it's any of your business, but yes, I am in love with Raven…though that has nothing to do with WHY I'm doing this."

"He's telling the truth," cut in a returned Templar, holding his gut. "He'd probably already be in her leotard if he wasn't doing this, actually. Nice kick, by the way."

Ker blushed. "Shut up, Templar. Please…just shut up."

Templar grinned evilly…or as evilly as the righteous boy could. "Oh no, Kaku. I've got this one chance to embarrass you…and I'm going to use it."

"I know that the Fates are impartial in how they mete out Balance, but sometime I do have to wonder if they aren't possessed of a sick sense of humor." Ker sighed. "Look, can I let you go without you trying to take my head off, or some other thing that would force me to send you flying into a bookcase?"

"Yeah…so what do you need my help with?"

"Well you see…" started Ker, before Mr. Pence's voice cut in.

"What's going on in there?"

"The boys just startled me!" called back Cerise. "There was a little trouble in here, but we're all fine now." She raised an eyebrow. "You going to let me up yet?" she asked Ker quietly.

He did. "Yeah, sure. Anyway…we've got some business with the Scath worshippers."

The blonde whistled. "Trigon, eh? You two are sure playing in the big leagues. So you're recruiting, right? So what's his plan now?"

Ker frowned. "Beyond what's detailed in his version of the prophecy…we have no clue."

She froze. "No way…it's come? The end of humanity's reign? Trigon is coming to Earth? How soon?"

Ker shook his head. "There's no way to tell. Templar and I found a group that Scath was using as a conduit for a 'scouting party' so to speak…"

"Gateway-vessel summoning?" she asked, nodding.

"Yeah. We shut that down, and when I did some reading of their stuff, we found out that they were devoted to Trigon…well, Scath. Raven filled us in on the connection between Scath and Trigon."

"And I filled you in on who Trigon was," interjected Templar.

"Shut up. Anyway, the prophecy was mentioned during all this, in vague terms. I assume we're talking about 'The gem was born of evil's fire, the gem shall be his portal. He comes to claim, he comes to sire, the end of all things mortal.'"

Cerise took a deep breath. "I don't know how you can say that so calmly, but yeah."

"Mostly because I have more of an understanding of prophecy than you do. Besides, that isn't a doom sentence. Even assuming that's the whole prophecy, which I don't, it doesn't actually explicitly say that he will 'sire the end of all things mortal', only that it's his purpose."

Cerise nodded. "So you want help with finding and destroying this…gem? And cutting through the ranks of the cultists and demons that'll be protecting it, of course."

Ker shook his head. "No. 'The gem shall be his portal,' remember? He's coming, and there's nothing we can do to stop that. I'm recruiting for the fight against Trigon when he comes through his portal."

The girl sighed. "You're insane…but on the off-chance that you're right…sure. But I've got to know. Why the hell do you set off demon detectors if you're not a half-demon?"

Ker shrugged. "I have no idea. Perhaps it's because I love Raven?"

"It's about the only thing we can think of," added Templar.

"Wouldn't do it," responded Cerise. "The 'love' part in detection spells refers to the embracing of what demons represent…which Raven is in direct opposition to. I wonder though…you could be a Precursor."

"A what now?" asked the two boys as one.

"A Precursor," she repeated. "Demons and humans aren't really that different…along with angels there's a triangle of interrelation. So, by the specific breeding of humans, it's possible to create new bloodlines of angels or demons. You could be a naturally occurring Precursor, though it's impossible to determine if you're a celestial or infernal. This special breeding builds up to a kind of 'critical mass', and if the right trigger comes along…"

"_Ken no chi…"_ muttered Ker to himself in Japanese. "I guess that would explain it. So I'm human…but with the potential to become something more."

"Exactly. Precursors also often exhibit powers without any visible changes to their form…it's a kind of clue as to what they can become."

"Well, I'm not bothered by weather extremes…"

"Somehow, I doubt that's a clue to your power. Anyway, the actual trigger determines if you'll turn out celestial or infernal."

"That's for the future," said Ker heavily. "Let's just get on with what's happening now.

"Right." The three of them headed for the exit.


End file.
